A deer poaching case in Rogersville involving aggravated assault of a landowner has resulted in a felony conviction for a Hawkins County man.
William Franklin Stamey Jr., 22, of Whitesburg, appeared in Hawkins County Circuit Court on Friday and pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, spotlighting deer, hunting from a motor vehicle, and a second and third offense of hunting big game in closed season. Stamey was ordered to serve six months of a four-year sentence for the aggravated assault charge, and six months for each of the hunting big game in closed season charges, with all jail time to run concurrently.
In addition to fines and court costs, Stamey must pay $12,500 in restitution and had his hunting privileges revoked for life. He also forfeited a spotlight, a muzzleloader, a rifle, and a compound bow along with deer meat, turkey parts, and 14 deer racks.
On August 16, 2023, at approximately 11:30 p.m., Stamey and an accomplice were road hunting on McKinney Chapel Rd. and used a spotlight to kill a doe and a seven-point buck from a motor vehicle during the closed deer hunting season. When confronted by a landowner, Stamey pointed a gun at him and threatened to kill him.
They were later stopped by a Hawkins County Sheriff’s deputy and found to be in possession of a spotlight and hunting rifles. Both Stamey and the driver were taken into custody and a third vehicle occupant was charged as an accessory. Court dates for both the driver and the accessory are set for next month.
TWRA was contacted and the investigation produced evidence of further poaching activity. On September 15, 2023, Wildlife Officer Justin Pinkston discovered a buck deer carcass in Stamey’s backyard while he was attempting to serve him with a criminal summons. Records indicated that Stamey had checked the deer in as an archery harvest on August 27, but did not possess an archery license.
On September 19, TWRA executed a search warrant at Stamey’s residence that produced eleven more sets of deer antlers that Stamey admitted to poaching. Stamey also admitted to shooting a bearded hen turkey in 2022, which he did not check in as required by state law.
Stamey also had a previous poaching conviction from May 2021 when he entered a plea agreement for spotlighting, hunting from a public roadway, and hunting deer during the closed season in Greene County in November of 2020.
Officer Pinkston says, “Over a three-and-a-half-year period, Stamey was charged with killing or assisting in killing 15 deer illegally, and admitted to poaching 20 deer from the road in 2020 alone. Sadly, most of these deer were left lying and were never recovered.”
Pinkston also says that ten wildlife officers assisted in the case and thanks the Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office for their role, as well as Assistant District Attorney Joan Stewart for successfully prosecuting the case.
