Day three of testimony in the Mason Sisk capital murder trial featured a pre-opening discussion between the state and defense lawyers at the bench of Circuit Court Judge Chadwick Wise concerning the state’s inability to provide transcripts from retrievable messages on the deceased John Sisk’s and Mary Sisk’s and accused Mason Sisk’s confiscated cell phones.

The discussion was out of the jury’s presence.

The lag in getting the transcripts to defense attorneys Michael Sizemore and Shay Golden to request a mistrial and dismissal of the indictment on the grounds they hadn’t had access to them in time to prepare an adequate defense.

However, District Attorney Brian Jones said he had not received the transcripts back from the FBI office in Quantico, Va., so neither he nor his staff had seen them either.

“The previous counsel (for Sisk) was aware that the phones have been in the custody of the FBI and there was nothing for us to produce,” said Jones. “I called the FBI at 8 p.m. (Wednesday) and they still haven’t produced the report that would be readable by both the state and defense.”

Jones opposed the idea of a mistrial and Wise said he’d have to see what was in the reports before he could decide whether to declare a mistrial.

“I’ll have to see if there is any exculpatory evidence on the cell phone before making my decision,” said Wise.

The morning’s testimony also included more Limestone County Sheriff’s Department deputies’ body cam video. Most of the most recent videos concerned the search for shell casings and trajectories of 9mm pistol shells as they exited the bodies of victims.

Sheriff’s Investigator Jay Abernathy noted any scratches or pry marks on doors that would indicate forced entry on the night of the Sept. 2, 2019, killings of the Sisk couple and their three children, Grayson, 6, Aurora, 4, and Colson, 6 months.

Also offering testimony was a microbiologist of the Aviagen chicken breeding research plant located at the opening of Ridge Road in Elkmont. The plant’s security video of its parking lot also captured images of vehicles leaving and returning to Ridge Road on which the Sisks’ home was located.

Sheriff’s Investigator Caleb Durden viewed the video from the night of the murders for a time period of when the Sisks’ vehicle returned from a Labor Day weekend outing in North Florida at approximately 9 p.m. until lawmen and emergency responders arrived on the crime scene at about 11 p.m., in response to a 911 call made by Mason Sisk 10:49 p.m., reporting the killing of his family.

During that intervening time, a dark colored SUV, similar to one owned by Mary Sisk, was seen to exit Ridge Road and return to enter Ridge Road about 8 minutes later.