Sperryville resident James Wayne Sisk was sentenced last Friday to five years in prison after pleading guilty to three felony and two misdemeanor assault, drug and gun charges tied to a fight over a car repair bill last January.
Sisk pleaded guilty to possession of a weapon, not a gun (knife) by a felon, assault and battery, point/brandish a firearm, violent possession or transportation of a firearm and possession of a schedule I/II illegal substance. Three other misdemeanors were not prosecuted at this time.
According to a plea agreement, Sisk’s five years of incarceration were for a charge of felon in possession of a firearm. A combined 12 years of jail time for four other charges were suspended.
On Jan. 8, 2024, a Rappahannock County deputy was dispatched to a report of a fight on Slate Mills Road, and was “advised that a firearm was involved in the fight,” according to the facts of the case agreed to by the prosecution and defendant.
Sisk, 43, told the responding officer he had performed car repairs for Lindsay Breeden who came to his residence with friends to pick up the car, but had not paid, according to court records. A verbal altercation ensued, and Sisk retrieved a firearm — a .22-caliber rifle — and threatened to shoot them, then began throwing hammers at them, according to court records.
A friend who came with Breeden to pick up the vehicle, Christopher Kenney, was injured by one of the hammers, according to court records. Kenney told officers Sisk was hiding behind a tree with a knife when they arrived.
In court last Friday, Commonwealth’s Attorney Art Goff told Circuit Court Judge Douglas L. Fleming Jr. he still believed the plea agreement — which was originally accepted by a judge in January — to be appropriate, and Fleming sentenced Sisk according to the agreement.
A special condition was added to his probation barring him from contact with Kenney when he is released.
“Thank you for accepting the plea,” Sisk said to Judge Fleming in court.
