Suspect’s Retreat From Plea Bargain Alienates Attorney

Tobias Stackhouse is backing away from a plea bargain in the first-degree murder charge he faces in the Jan. 11 shooting of Elkarea resident Steve Roscoe.

The decision didn’t sit well with his attorney - now his former attorney.

“That was the basis for my indication to Stackhouse that he should retain other counsel,” attorney Al Schwenker said Tuesday. “My understanding is that, in discussing it with other inmates at the Pend Oreille County Jail, he decided that he shouldn’t go through with it.

“We had a strong disagreement as to what was in his best interest.”

Under the plea bargain, Prosecutor Tom Metzger would recommend that Stackhouse get 24 years in prison, 90 percent of the maximum standard-range sentence.

Pend Oreille County Superior Court Judge Larry Kristianson appointed Newport attorney Anna Nordtvedt on Friday to replace Schwenker as Stackhouse’s publicly paid counsel. She could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Kristianson had scheduled a hearing May 18 to convict and sentence Stackhouse. His actions were to have been based on a statement in which Stackhouse would admit enough facts about the Roscoe killing to support a firstdegree murder conviction.

The plan would have kept Stackhouse from having to enter a guilty plea so he could preserve his right to appeal Kristianson’s decision to handle the case in adult court. Stackhouse didn’t turn 18 until Feb. 2 and maintains he should have been prosecuted in Juvenile Court.

Spokane County Prosecutor Jim Sweetser said the Pend Oreille County development won’t sidetrack the first-degree murder charge he filed Thursday against Stackhouse, who remains in the Pend Oreille County Jail.

Stackhouse and Jason Kukrall, 21, are accused of beating Portland resident Linda Guillen and stabbing her to death near Playfair Race Track in Spokane on Dec. 1. Court records say Stackhouse told police he stabbed Guillen repeatedly as part of a plan to rob and murder the prostitute.

Sweetser said he doesn’t think the circumstances warrant aggravated murder charges, which could lead to the death penalty.

Kukrall already has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the Roscoe case and has agreed to testify against Stackhouse.