WILMINGTON – Prosecutors thought they had a quick resolution in a case for the first of four defendants charged with murder nearly one year ago.
READ MORE: 2 shootings, 5 murder charges: WPD makes arrests in 2 cases
That was not to be though and Damon Stackhouse will see his day in court.
The 18-year-old Wilmington resident has been charged with first-degree murder, shooting into an occupied dwelling and possession of a stolen firearm in the Sept. 22, 2022 death of Jailin Tilghman-Deablo.
Others charged in the case are Labron Pryor, also 18, and two minors, who were 16 at the time of the murders.
Tilghman-Deablo was located on Buckingham Avenue, near Harbor Ridge Apartments, with life-threatening injuries and later died at the hospital.
Prosecutors reached a plea deal Friday with Stackhouse and his defense attorney, Bill Puregoy, which would have resulted in a sentence of 25 to 31 years. However, according to the New Hanover District Attorney’s Office, Stackhouse changed course at the last minute and elected to go to trial.
“We reached an agreement pretty quickly. I thought it was good to go,” said assistant district attorney Brad Matthews, who is trying the case. “Sometime over the weekend, he changed his mind. It was his right to reject the plea.”
Puregoy told Robeson County Superior Court Judge Tiffany Powers he had been working with his client for months and “went the extra mile” to clearly explain his options.
“Basically, I’m not ashamed to say that I was trying to get him to this arrangement,” Puregoy said. “But I think, in all candor, the defendant requires larger amounts of hand holding, so to speak, or explaining things.”
Puregoy presented to the judge a letter written by Stackhouse, in which he alleges he was coerced into taking the deal.
Powers read the letter aloud:
“Your honor, I decided that it’s not my best interest to accept the plea deal I accepted. I feel as though I was pressured to agree this arrangement against my own freewill … I would like to thank the court for its understanding of my decision-making process of dismissing this plea deal.”
Puregoy also told the court he would no longer be representing Stackhouse. His office confirmed to Port City Daily Monday he is retiring from his law practice.
In court, Puregoy told the judge he represented someone 20 years ago who took a plea but then said he felt coerced.
“That’s not how I do business,” Puregoy told the judge.
The attorney had to deal with it with the state bar, he said.
“The vocabulary utilized in that correspondence necessitates that I asked the court to substitute counsel,” Puregoy said.
A new attorney will be appointed to Stackhouse by the capital defender’s office.
“I absolutely understand you making a big decision and this is your life,” Powers told Stackhouse. “You have a right to a speedy trial, but it is going to take time for a new attorney to catch up to speed on your case and it’s already been almost a year.”
Last fall, after the shooting, District Attorney Ben David was clear with the media he would prosecute to the fullest extent.
“We are going to hold the line,” David said then. “If you’re a juvenile and you’re going to discharge a weapon in this community, we are going to be making you an adult if we can under the law.”
Four months before Tilghman-Deablo was murdered, his younger brother Chance Deablo, was sentenced by New Hanover County prosecutors to four years in prison after pleading guilty to the 2021 shooting of another student in the leg at New Hanover High School.
CATCH UP: ‘My life’s not over’: 16-year-old sentenced 4 years for New Hanover High shooting
ALSO: Mom of New Hanover High shooting suspect says she sought help from district days before incident
His mother, Domanae Deablo, told reporters after the shooting, her son – who was 15 at the time – was a victim of constant bullying, even as late as a half-hour before the shooting. She claimed fellow students picked on him, as well as people who weren’t even New Hanover High School students that came to the campus. However, the school district failed to act.
She told WECT after Jailin’s death last September he was “hunted down” and murdered three doors down from their home.
“He was funny. He was outgoing. He was handsome,” Domanae Deablo told the news outlet. “We grew up together — had him young. He wasn’t perfect but he wasn’t a murderer, you know?”
Port City Daily asked Matthews if the incident was gang-related; he said he couldn’t comment on an active case.
Stackhouse remains in the New Hanover County Detention Center without bond, along with Pryor. The minors remain in the New Hanover County Juvenile Detention Center.
“There are still three other co-defendants,” Matthews said Monday. “We should know in the next couple months if any others are going to plea or go to trial.”
Tips or comments? Email info@localdailymedia.com.
Want to read more from PCD? Subscribe now and then sign up for our morning newsletter, Wilmington Wire, and get the headlines delivered to your inbox every morning.
