According to court action, Limestone County District Attorney Brian Jones does not want a jury to hear testimony related to family discord and possible drug use in the murder retrial of Mason Sisk.

Circuit Judge Chad Wise called a mistrial in September 2022 after hearing testimony that Sisk, then 14, on Labor Day weekend of 2019 shot to death his parents, John and Mary Sisk of Elkmont, and three siblings, Grayson, 6, Aurora, 4, and infant Colson Sisk, as they lay sleeping in their beds.

The mistrial hinged on forensic reports on the cellphone messages of Mason’s stepmother, Mary Sisk, in the closing moments of the September trial. It had taken FBI investigators three years to unlock her phone and the report was delivered just before the case would have gone to the jury.

However, Friday both sides met in a pretrial hearing before Wise where Jones’ team motioned to declare inadmissible the defense’s intentions to

• call a purportedly expert witness on false confessions;

• introduction of a so-called “third person” with motive to kill the elder Sisk and his family;

• issue of heated paternity discussions centered on 6-month-old Colson Sisk;

• and, the implication of John Sisk possessing and dealing drugs.

Mason, now about 18, is represented by attorneys Shay Golden and Michael Sizemore.

The state’s motions were presented by Assistant District Attorney Bill Lisenby — who repeatedly called the defense’s attempts to inject their arguments with “hearsay evidence” attempts to confuse jury decisions, which, he said, should only concern the guilt or innocence of the accused.

Lisenby said the defense does not show a “nexus” between any of the reasonable doubt issues and the actual killings of the family, therefore, all should be declared inadmissible.

Jones also motioned on requested discovery items, saying the state, after three requests, had not received a doctor’s report and a report on the gun used in the commission of the crime.

“The state has everything they are entitled to,” argued Golden. “We don’t have anything on the gun to report.”

False confession motion

“This (false confession) has happened consistently throughout the history of this nation,” said Golden. “The (accused) is not allowed to testify as to the context of the situation.”

Golden said Mason’s so-called confession to the murders was more an “agreement.”

“The science behind this came about in the 1990s caused by a major shift in DNA analysis,” said Golden. “Many confessed to crimes they didn’t do. In this case, the individual was in a stressful environment surrounded by adults. There was no gunshot residue on his hands. The statement was made after two hours on incarceration. The confession was elicited falsely. This is a 14-year-old: anyone would have confessed.”

Lisenby questioned the qualifications of the false confession expert the defense wishes to call to the stand.

“The state disagrees that a large part of his career has been spent on (research into) false confessions,” said Lisenby. “His (expertise) is based on one paper he wrote.”

Rulings delayWise didn’t immediately rule on the motions, telling attorneys he would issue his rulings at 4:30 p.m. Friday. In the result of those rulings, which came at about 3:30 p.m., the judge upheld state’s motion to deny testimony of an expert witness on false confession, Dr. Jeffrey Neuschatz.

“The jury will be able to recognize that coercive methods, if any, have the potential for causing a false confession,” Wise wrote in his ruling.

The judge also denied the state’s motion to deny introduction of an alleged “third person” as being responsible for the killings.

Wise granted the state’s motion for discovery.

“We have an open file in discovery items, even if it’s not exculpatory evidence,” said Jones. “So far we’ve received nothing from defense.”

The Sisk retrial is to convene at 9 a.m. Monday, April 17.