Court rejects appeal of sentence from ‘happiest crim alive’
Earl Strathern Campbell and firearms ‘quite a dangerous combination’
A“real gangsta” has lost an appeal against a prison sentence after a court reviewed his text messages saying he got “high and happy” shooting guns.
A five-day trial in April found Earl Strathern Campbell, 37, not guilty of aggravated robbery and burglary following a brutal 2021 home invasion during which a Havelock North man’s firearms were stolen.
However, the trial jury in the Napier District Court found him guilty of charges of unlawfully possessing five firearms, including four that were taken in the burglary.
They were found in a bush bivouac behind Campbell’s mother’s house at Tuai, northern Hawke’s Bay.
Judge Bridget Mackintosh sentenced Campbell to twoand-a-half years in prison, telling him that “you and firearms are quite a dangerous combination”.
Campbell appealed, arguing Judge Mackintosh had set a too-high starting point when calculating his prison term.
The Court of Appeal, however, found the starting point, which matched the sentence handed down, was at the “lower end” of the range.
The three-judge Appeal Court panel found Judge Mackintosh was correct to take into account the “particular danger” posed by Campbell if he was in possession of firearms.
They said he had an earlier conviction for an aggravated robbery involving the use of a firearm, after which he sent his partner text messages saying he was the “happiest crim alive”, and “crime duz pay”.
The texts showed Campbell saw himself as a “real gangsta” who lived and died by the gun.
One said he was “high an[d] happy now off tha[t] power thrust and exhilaration of shooting guns”.
“These messages directly link Mr Campbell to the use of firearms in the context of criminal offending,” the appeal court judges said.
Campbell also tried to argue the sentencing judge should have given him credit for representing himself at his trial, reducing its costs.
The appeal judges rejected this argument also, saying that it was more often the case than not that self-represented defendants added to the costs of the trial.
“[They] are unfamiliar with the criminal trial process, do not understand the complex procedural and evidential rules that apply, or are ignorant of trial strategies and tactics.
“These inadequacies usually impose significant burdens on the Crown and the court, both in time and expense,” they said.
Campbell was found not guilty of aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary after an appearance at his trial by one of his cellmates.
The man, whose name was suppressed, told the court that he, and not Campbell, was one of two men who kicked down the firearm owner’s door and hit him with a hammer before taking the weapons.
You [Campbell] and firearms are quite a dangerous combination Judge Bridget Mackintosh