Teen murder defendant to remain in jail

Marian Accardi, The Decatur Daily, Ala.

Feb. 16—ATHENS — A Limestone County judge has denied the request of a 16-year-old charged with capital murder for the slaying of his family to be transferred from jail to a juvenile detention facility.

Circuit Judge Robert Baker's order denying the motion by Mason Sisk's attorneys was filed Friday afternoon. A virtual hearing on the motion to transfer Sisk was held Thursday.

An arraignment has been set for April 7. Sisk, who is accused of the fatal September 2019 shootings of five family members, is now being held without bail at Limestone County Jail.

When Sisk, then 14, was arrested after the shootings at the family's home on Ridge Road in Elkmont, he was taken to the Tennessee Valley Juvenile Detention Center in Tuscumbia. After a hearing in November, Limestone County Juvenile Judge Matthew Huggins ordered Sisk's case to be transferred to Circuit Court for prosecution, and Sisk was placed in the county jail.

He was indicted last month as an adult with one count of capital murder of two or more victims and three counts of capital murder of a victim under the age of 14.

Sisk requested, through his attorneys, that the court to enter an order placing him at the Tennessee Valley Juvenile Detention Center, "or any other, different or additional relief the court deems appropriate."

According to the motion, Sisk is housed in solitary confinement at the jail due to his age and vulnerability with the general jail population, and he is "better suited to be placed at the (juvenile detention center) where the defendant will be among his peer group and in a setting that more closely meets his needs."

Limestone County authorities said the victims were Sisk's father John Wayne Sisk, 38; his stepmother Mary Sisk, 35; his 6-year-old brother; his 5-year-old sister; and his 6-month-old brother.

— marian.accardi@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2438. Twitter @DD_MAccardi.

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