Stackhouse v. State

A man broke into a motel room in the middle of the night, holding what appeared to be a long gun barrel, and robbed the room’s occupant. When the police arrived, the victim identified James Stackhouse (defendant) from a photo array as the robber. The police knew where Stackhouse lived, and a police tracking dog followed the scent from the motel room to that location. When the police arrived at the house, a man answering the door claimed to be James Lewis, not James Stackhouse. A woman in the house confirmed that the man was James Lewis, but the officers took the man into custody because he matched the description given by the victim. The victim, however, was unable to definitively confirm that the man in police custody was the culprit. The police released the man, who told the police he was going home. The police soon discovered that the man was in fact Stackhouse. The police returned to the house and were told by the same woman, who was actually Stackhouse’s sister, that she was the only person in the house. The police removed her from the house and eventually found Stackhouse hiding in the attic. After police removed Stackhouse from the attic and handcuffed him, a police officer returned to the attic and searched it, finding a shotgun barrel concealed about two feet from where Stackhouse had been hiding. The gun barrel was admitted into evidence in Stackhouse’s trial. Stackhouse was convicted of robbery with a deadly weapon and burglary. Stackhouse appealed.