A request to move a 16-year-old accused of murdering five people, including three children, from the county jail to a juvenile facility has been denied, records show.

Defense attorneys for Mason Wayne Sisk said their client was among peers and pursuing his GED after his initial arrest. However, it was later announced Sisk would be charged with capital murder and tried as an adult, at which point he was brought to the Limestone County Jail.

Attorneys said Sisk has since been kept in solitary confinement, “due to his age and vulnerability with the general population” at the jail. They asked he be transferred back to Tennessee Valley Juvenile Detention Center, where he’d be back among peers “and in a setting that more closely meets his needs.”

“Solitary confinement for an extended period of time will have a deleterious effect on the Defendant’s physical, mental and emotional wellbeing,” the motion reads.

However, Limestone County Circuit Court Judge Robert Baker disagreed, issuing an order Friday denying the defense’s motion. Baker did not include in the order why he denied the transfer.

The case

Sisk is accused of shooting and killing five members of his family in September 2019 — his father, John Sisk; his stepmother, Mary Sisk; his 6-year-old brother, Grayson; his 5-year-old sister, Aurora; and his 6-month-old brother, Colson. Limestone County Coroner Mike West said at the time that each family member sustained a single gunshot wound.

Three of the victims died in their home in the 25000 block of Ridge Road; the other two were taken by AirEvac to Huntsville Hospital, where they later died from their injuries.

The murders happened around 10:30 p.m. Mason Sisk, then 14, called 911 about half an hour later, after disposing of the weapon, which had been illegally obtained, an official with the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office said at the time.

According to LCSO, Sisk met deputies in the driveway and said he had been in the basement when he heard gunfire upstairs. However, there were enough discrepancies in his story that he was brought in for additional questioning. He later admitted to the murders, officials said, then helped investigators locate the murder weapon.

Sisk was indicted on four counts of capital murder Jan. 27 — one for each of his siblings and one for his parents. He has remained in the Limestone County Jail without bond since November 2020.