FAIRFAX, Va. — A man found guilty of second-degree murder in a deadly Fairfax County ambush in 2020 was sentenced to three years behind bars on Tuesday. The sentence was a shock to the Commonwealth's top prosecutor.
Carlton Campbell was found guilty of murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony following a trial in 2022. A jury found Campbell shot and killed Anthony Sullivan with an AR-15 rifle. Sullivan was unarmed at the time.
Evidence submitted at trial showed that Sullivan and Campbell had argued about an alleged debt prior to the day of the shooting. Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano explained what happened.
"When Sullivan knocked on Campbell’s door, Campbell jumped from his eight-foot second-floor balcony, went around the apartment building, and shot Sullivan in the back where he stood at Campbell’s front door. Several of the bullets also penetrated the metal door of a neighbor’s occupied apartment," he said.
At sentencing Tuesday, Judge Robert Smith sentenced Campbell to three years active incarceration. Three years is a mandatory minimum sentence for the firearm charge. He sentenced Campbell to 10 years for the second-degree murder charge, but suspended them all.
The prosecutor's office called the sentence "not what we expected." Sentencing guidelines for a murder conviction are between 13 and 21 years. Prosecutors asked for the high-end of the guidelines.
"We believed that was appropriate for the seriousness of the crime, and the dangerous, reckless actions of the defendant," Descano said in a statement. "In addition to the tragic murder of Mr. Sullivan, the defendant's actions put the lives of everyone in the vicinity at risk."
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