Murder charge dropped in 2016 fatal shooting

Murder charges have been dropped against a man for the 2016 fatal shooting of another man that allegedly had been in retaliation for another shooting.

In the early morning of March 21, 2016, Manatee County sheriff’s deputies responded to reports of shots fired in the 4300 block of Eighth Street Court East in Bradenton. Deputies found Nicolette Johnson, 24, lying in a driveway with multiple fatal gunshot wounds.

Detectives with the Manatee Homicide Investigative Unit identified Kyle Dewayne Stackhouse as the suspect and obtained a warrant for his arrest after receiving a Crimestoppers tip. He was apprehended days later in Jonesboro, Ga., and was brought back to face the charges.

Stackhouse, 28, had been in custody since then at the Manatee County jail, being held without bond.

The case, which was tentatively scheduled to go to trial Monday, was instead dropped, according to a court document filed by Assistant State Attorney Rebecca Muller. As of Monday evening, however, Stackhouse was still in custody, according to jail records on the sheriff’s office website.

Details of exactly why the case had been dropped were not immediately available. Stackhouse’s defense had filed several motions in the past week, however, seeking to have some evidence and testimony in the case excluded for trial.

Defense attorney Liane McCurry was seeking to have evidence of drugs including cocaine and drug paraphernalia found during a search of Stackhouse’s home saying it was irrelevant to the case, according to the motion.

McCurry had also sought to exclude any testimony from the sheriff’s office regarding alleged bullet holes and blood found on the Hyundai the victim allegedly had been sitting in when he was shot and the identification of Stackhouse through the Crimestoppers tip.

None of the motions were ever argued or ruled on in court.

This story was originally published August 28, 2017 at 8:28 PM with the headline "Murder charge dropped in 2016 fatal shooting."