Lawyer: Confession of teen charged with murdering family inadmissible

Dec. 2—One of the most critical days in the capital murder trial of Mason Wayne Sisk, charged with the fatal shooting of his five family members when he was 14 years old, may take place before the Limestone County jury is even selected.

Sisk's defense team is seeking to exclude all statements the teen made to law enforcement soon after the shootings, including a confession, as well as any evidence collected as a result of those statements. A hearing on the motion is set for today, although defense lawyer Michael Sizemore on Thursday said he does not expect the judge to hear witness testimony until a later hearing, possibly next month.

The first trial of the case, in September, was discontinued when Circuit Judge Chad Wise declared a mistrial before the jury began deliberations. The trial is now scheduled for Feb. 13.

The crux of the defense argument is that officers with the Limestone County Sheriff's Office obtained statements from Sisk without notifying him of his Miranda rights, or of a version of those rights required when the suspect is a juvenile. One of the pre-Miranda statements Sisk made to investigators, according to the defense, identified the location of the gun that prosecutors allege he used in the homicides. Consequently, they argue, the gun cannot be introduced as evidence during the jury trial.

Sisk, who is being tried as an adult, is charged with the Sept. 2, 2019, shooting deaths of his father John Wayne Sisk, 38; his stepmother Mary Sisk, 35; his 6-year-old brother Kane; his 5-year-old sister Rorrie; and his 6-month-old brother Colson. The shootings occurred at the family's home on Ridge Road in Elkmont. All the victims were in bed when they were shot in the head, according to testimony.

Authorities said Mason Sisk, now 17, initially told police he was in the basement playing video games when he heard gunshots and ran outside to see a vehicle pulling away, but he later told investigators he'd killed the five.

The defense has claimed Sisk in his confession only repeated to detectives what they had told him.

Sizemore subpoenaed nine people to testify at today's hearing. They include current Sheriff Joshua McLaughlin, who was an investigator with the District Attorney's Office at the time of the shootings; former Sheriff Mike Blakely; District Attorney Brian Jones; and others who were involved in the investigation of the shootings. The DA's office on Thursday asked the court to strike Jones' subpoena. — Confession

According to the defense, Sisk was at the scene of the crime for 100 minutes, during much of which time he was handcuffed and in Sheriff's Office vehicles, his phone was seized and he was not allowed to make a phone call. Despite being in custody, they said, he was not read his Miranda rights until well after being transported to the Sheriff's Office.

The defense focuses on interactions Sisk had with law enforcement shortly after the shooting deaths, each of which took place before he had been advised of his Miranda rights. In one, "while the Defendant was handcuffed and secured in a law enforcement vehicle," Capt. Lance Royals questioned him about what had happened. The handcuffs were then removed and he was in Blakely's car for more than 40 minutes, during which any conversation was not recorded.

The defense also focused on discussions after Sisk had been transported to the Limestone County Detention Center, where his statements were recorded. The videotape, played at a hearing in September, showed Sisk answering questions posed by Blakely and Investigator Johnny Morrell and being given a gunshot residue test 32 minutes before his juvenile Miranda rights were read to him.

In the recorded interview, Sisk said of his father, "I got fed up with him. ... The kids were tired of him. Yes, I killed him."

"I shot all of them," he said. "(Mary Sisk) was raised in the city and believed in all this manners crap. She did it so much it was annoying."

Mason Sisk said he drove his mother's car about a mile away and tossed the gun out of the car along Sandlin Road.

Sizemore on Thursday said Sisk was only able to provide details during the recorded interview after being fed them by an investigator.

"He was 14," Sizemore said. "That has to be the backdrop. These law enforcement officers had been trained in all the interrogative techniques that are utilized to elicit a confession. Juveniles are particularly vulnerable in that setting. These tactics are designed to leave the person being questioned with the impression that the only way to get the questioning to stop is to say a particular thing."

The defense argues that statements Sisk made after waiving his Miranda rights also "are due to be suppressed as fruit from the warrantless, illegal arrest."

Alabama law requires that before a juvenile is taken into custody, he must be informed that he has a right to communicate with his parent or guardian, a right to consult with a lawyer and "that the child is not required to say anything and that anything the child says may be used against the child."

The judge in September ruled against the defendant's motion to suppress Sisk's statements, but after declaring a mistrial Wise issued an order that "all prior rulings of the Court regarding the admissibility of evidence are hereby vacated."

Assistant District Attorney Bill Lisenby Jr. has filed two briefs opposing the motion to suppress Sisk's statements.

Lisenby's primary argument in opposition to the motion is that the pre-Miranda questions officers asked Sisk were made before his arrest and amounted to "general on-the-scene questioning," not interrogations. He was handcuffed, Lisenby argued, not because he was under arrest but as a "means of ensuring (the deputy's) safety and preserving the status quo."

Lisenby did not returned a call Thursday.

Sizemore said that either the Sheriff's Office arrested Sisk — in which case he should have been Mirandized — or the public should be concerned.

"They want to call him a witness," Sizemore said. "I would hope that people would be a little uneasy that a witness was detained in handcuffs in the back of a locked patrol car and kept on scene and questioned and denied access to a phone. You call 911 and they handcuff you and put you in the back of a patrol car. That should startle people." — Handgun

The gun used in the homicides is a critical piece of evidence for the prosecution. In the aborted first trial, evidence was introduced that the gun had been stolen from a family friend in Florida. Surveillance video introduced at the first trial indicated the Sisk family returned home from Florida at about 9 p.m. on the day of the shootings. Mason Sisk called 911 to report the shootings at 10:49 p.m., after first calling a girlfriend. The 9 mm Luger handgun was located by law enforcement on Sandlin Road, near the Sisk home, based on Sisk's statements.

The district attorney argues in his brief that even if Sisk's statement about the location of the gun is inadmissible, the gun itself can be introduced as evidence. Surveillance video from a company located on Sandlin Road near the Sisk home showed a vehicle leaving Ridge Road and "turning toward the interstate, away from Elkmont, in the direction where the firearm was found, and in the opposite direction the Defendant said in the 911 telephone call he had seen a vehicle leaving his driveway after the shooting," according to the DA's brief.

The vehicle, which prosecutors have suggested was Mason Sisk's stepmother's and driven by the teen, returned to Ridge Road six minutes later.

Even without Sisk's statement, Lisenby argued, "law enforcement would have been able to find and secure this firearm from ways independent of the Defendant's statements."

According to Lisenby's brief, both Blakely and Morrell obtained the statement in part by warning Sisk that they needed the information to ensure a child did not find a loaded weapon. According to the brief, Blakely also told Sisk "in substance, they could get the whole National Guard out here to search, but they would find the gun."

In the motion to delay today's hearing, the DA's office complained it was not sure what prior testimony the judge would allow it to introduce, and thus prosecutors are not sure what witnesses they need to call at the hearing. Lisenby also said two Sheriff's Office investigators have holiday plans and are "unavailable for the hearing due to family and other commitments out of state." Wise scheduled today's hearing on Sept. 21.

Although he faces capital murder charges, Sisk could not be executed if convicted because he was under 18 at the time of the killings.

— eric@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2435. Twitter @DD_Fleischauer.