An Alabama teen has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2019 murders of his five family members because he was “tired” of them.
Mason Sisk, 18, shot his parents and three younger siblings in the head on September 2, 2019, in Elkmont, Alabama.
The teenage killer, who was 14 at the time of his brutal crime, was sentenced Thursday by Limestone County Circuit Judge Chad Wise.
The judge said the crime was ‘heinous, disturbing and shrouded in outright evil’.
The life sentence came after Sisk was convicted of four counts of capital murder for the killings of his father John Sisk, 38, adoptive mother Mary Sisk, 35, and younger siblings Kane, 6, Rorrie, 4, and Colson, 6 months. The jury had deliberated for less than two hours.
Mason Sisk, 18, was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for the 2019 murders of his five family members
John Sisk, 38, and Mary Sisk, 35, were shot along with their three young children by Mason Sisk, who was ‘fed up’ with them
Sisk killed his three younger siblings Kane, 6, Rorrie, 4, and Colson, 6 months.
Limestone County District Attorney Brian CT Jones said, “I’ve prosecuted a lot of people in my career, and I can tell you that out of all those people, only four out of five people scare the hell out of me, and he’s at the top of my list.”
Sisk was ineligible for the death penalty because he was under 18 when he killed his family.
Before Thursday’s sentencing, members of the deceased family provided victim impact statements in July.
Mary Sisk’s brother Douglas Prater said, “On September 1, 2019, I came home with gifts for everyone – including you, Mason. Instead of seeing the happiness on their faces, I had to put those presents in boxes.”
Mary Sisk’s sister, Katie, told Mason that his nanny didn’t believe he was the killer until the evidence was in front of her.
Katie said: ‘How could her first grandson kill her family? She suffered a heart attack and later died of cardiac arrest. I don’t know if I will ever forgive you, but I do grieve the loss of you. The Mason kid I knew died the day you killed them.”
Sisk was 14 when he committed his crime, making him ineligible for the death penalty
The judge wrote that Sisk’s crime was “heinous, disturbing and shrouded in outright evil.”
Matt “Gator” Paddle, a close friend of John Sisk, described Mason as “a nerdy kid” and said he stayed in his room a lot.
Gator said he felt tension between John and Mary, but “didn’t feel any tension between Mason and his family.”
The deputy solicitor said: ‘There have been allegations that Mason was assaulted by John. That may be true, except he took it out on his entire family.”
Video footage of Sisk’s confession to the murders showed that he admitted to killing his family because he was “tired of the fighting in his family.”
About 31 witnesses appeared in court in April for Sisk’s trial, and on the final day of testimony, jurors heard from state witness examiner Johnny Morrell.
Morrell discussed the evidence presented in the case, including Mary Sisk’s cell phone and the interviews conducted at the time of the murder when Sisk confessed to the crime.
Sisk’s confession came after a lengthy period of questioning by former Sheriff Mike Blakely.
Lawson live-tweeted the trial in April, saying Mason had a “limited reaction” to the jury’s decision but looked “a bit shocked.”
The interview video shows Sisk denying that he killed his family multiple times, while Blakely accused him of lying.
The trial was originally set for 2022, but was declared a mistrial after it was discovered that the FBI had finally unlocked the cell phone of Sisk’s adoptive mother Mary Sisk.
During the retrial in April, the judge thanked the jury for tackling the difficult subject and said they will likely be changed forever.