Suspect Denies Murder Stackhouse Says Confession Was To Protect Older Friend
Jurors will be asked today whether Toby Stackhouse was more believable 13 months ago when he admitted killing a woman or now, when he claims he lied to protect an older friend.
On trial for first-degree murder, Stackhouse, 19, testified Thursday he wasn’t present when Spokane prostitute Linda Guillen was killed, but confessed to shield co-defendant Jason Kukrall.
Guillen was kicked, stabbed 19 times and had her throat cut on Dec. 1, 1994, near Playfair Race Track.
Stackhouse, who was 17 at the time, said he thought he could take the blame and escape serious punishment because he was a juvenile.
He said Kukrall pleaded, “You’ve got to take the heat off of me,” while a police car was pulling them over on Jan. 11, 1995.
They were arrested for murdering Elk-area resident Steve Roscoe while burglarizing his home hours earlier.
Kukrall, now 22, had the Guillen murder on his mind as the police car closed in on them, Stackhouse said. He said Kukrall was worried because he had a juvenile conviction that would lengthen his sentence if he was convicted of murder.
“He said, ‘You ain’t got a juvenile record. They’ll slap you on the hand and send you home to daddy. You ain’t got nothing to worry about,’ and I believed him,” Stackhouse testified.
Stackhouse said he discovered later that Kukrall also had been convicted of child molestation. Kukrall pleaded guilty to raping a 4-year-old boy in 1989 near Goldendale, Wash., when he was 16.
Both Kukrall and Stackhouse quickly confessed their roles in Roscoe’s murder and were convicted last year in Pend Oreille County. Stackhouse offered no explanation for why Kukrall didn’t ask him to take the rap for Roscoe’s murder.
After his arrest for the Roscoe killing, Kukrall told police he was present but didn’t participate when Stackhouse killed Guillen. Stackhouse then told police he stabbed Guillen to death with encouragement from Kukrall in the course of robbing her.
He was at pains Thursday to explain how he knew so many details about the murder if, as he now claims, he was not present. He also had to account for blood found on his coat.
His former fiancee, Denae Kennedy, testified that she cut her finger while peeling potatoes and wiped the blood onto his coat. Last May, she told another court she was three months pregnant with twins who might be Stackhouse’s.
Stackhouse said Thursday he has an 8-month-old son in Brewster, Wash.
He testified that he got his information about Guillen’s murder from Kukrall and news reports. Stackhouse said Kukrall told him about an undergarment he described in the detailed, tape-recorded confession jurors heard Wednesday.
Speaking in the same flat, unemotional voice, Stackhouse testified that Kukrall told him Guillen “had a fishnet undergarment on and you could see through it and it really got me going.”
He said Kukrall was “all thumbs” around women and couldn’t get a date on his own, but repeatedly expressed interest in hiring or robbing prostitutes.
Spokane County Superior Court Judge Robert Austin allowed no elaboration when Stackhouse claimed Kukrall told him about committing crimes against prostitutes other than Guillen.
Deputy Prosecutor Pat Thompson showed her contempt by declining to cross-examine Stackhouse, and Assistant Public Defender Greg Sypolt rested his case Thursday afternoon. The jury will begin its deliberations today.
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