Third murder trial date set for area man

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- A former Poplar Bluff man's third trial for a 1996 double homicide will be held in Boone County before a jury selected from neighboring Callaway County, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Cecil Barriner has twice been convicted of two counts of first degree murder in the deaths of Irene Sisk, 73, and her granddaughter Candy Sisk, 18. The Missouri Supreme Court overturned those convictions and accompanying death sentences.

Jury selection will begin March 29 with the trial immediately following.

New Madrid County Prosecuting Attorney Lewis Recker and assistant attorney general Kevin Zoellner had requested the trial be held in Cape Girardeau County, preferably before a jury chosen from county residents. As an alternative, the prosecutors suggested a jury be picked in Callaway County but hear the case in Cape Girardeau County.

During a hearing before Boone County Senior Judge Frank Conley, Zoellner said prosecutors wanted a Southeast Missouri venue out of deference to the family and friends of the victims, who have already had to endure the hardship and expense of attending the two trials in other parts of the state.

"Our reason is to minimize the inconvenience for the victims' extended family and friends," said Zoellner.

Stabbed to death

The two women were stabbed to death in their Tallapoosa home on Dec. 16, 1996.

Barriner's attorneys opposed a venue in Southeast Missouri, citing extensive news coverage of the previous trials and subsequent appeals. Beth Kerry, a St. Louis-based public defender, suggested the trial be held in Boone County before a local jury.

"We will be able to get a jury from an area that hasn't been saturated with media coverage in this case," Kerry said.

She also expressed concern about the safety of Barriner's legal team at a Southeast Missouri location more easily accessible to the victims' family. Kerry said one Sisk family member physically and verbally accosted her earlier this year when the Supreme Court heard Barriner's latest appeal.

Conley, whom the high court appointed to the case, agreed to the defense's choice of location. However, he chose to bring in a jury from Callaway County because it is of similar size to New Madrid County, where the killings took place. Both sides agreed to Conley's arrangement.

Barriner, 41, will remain incarcerated at the Potosi Correctional Center until his trial.

mpowers@semissourian.com

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