30-year sentence given in Hilltop murders

A Columbus man was sentenced to more than 30 years in federal prison Tuesday for his role in the killing of two women on the Hilltop to stop them from testifying about his drug-trafficking activities.

Michael J. Favors, 27, formerly of Franklinton, received 365 months on felony counts of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, conspiracy to murder a witness, and murder through use of a firearm in relation to a drugtrafficking crime.

“There is no more serious offense than the offense that you’ve committed here,” U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson said before announcing the penalty in federal court in Columbus.

In February 2017, Columbus police officers found Cody Campbell,

29, dead in a house on Whitethorne Avenue. A week and a half later, his mother, Sidney Campbell, 56, and his former girlfriend, Marie Stamp, 31, were found shot to death in the same house.

Favors and Antwan L. Hutchinson, 28, formerly of the Southern Orchards neighborhood near Downtown, were arrested and charged with killing the two women.

According to court documents, the two men were storing and selling illegal drugs at the Whitethorne Avenue residence and other homes. Hutchinson and others beat Cody Campbell; he and Favors later killed Sidney Campbell and Stamp to prevent them from cooperating with authorities, according to court documents.

Hutchinson and Favors were not charged in Cody Campbell’s death.

Hutchinson pleaded guilty to felony counts of conspiracy to distribute and possess controlled substances and two counts of murder of a witness in the deaths of the women. He was sentenced earlier this month to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty in the case as part of a plea agreement.

Statements were offered by family members of the victims in the case during Tuesday’s hearings, including Stamp’s father, Emil Curry, who called the perpetrators wannabe drug thugs who killed when their “drug operation was in jeopardy.”

In August, Favors sought to withdraw his guilty plea, saying he was under the influence of pills illegally obtained in jail at the time of his plea. He also questioned his legal counsel.

Watson rejected the motion, however, calling it a stalling tactic and citing arranged three-way phone calls at the jail involving Hutchinson.

“You put the victims’ family through needless pain and anguish with that little stunt you pulled” in court, Watson said of Favors’ attempt to withdraw his plea.

Favors declined to comment in court Tuesday, telling the judge, “I don’t have anything to say, Your Honor.”