photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Attorney Nicholas David, right, appears with defendant Junah Sisney on Friday, Oct. 31, 2025, in Douglas County District Court.

An attempted capital murder trial has been indefinitely delayed after a defense attorney made false representations to the court, leading to a sharp rebuke from the judge and a request from the defendant to get a new lawyer.

The incident occurred Friday afternoon in the courtroom of Douglas County District Judge Stacey Donovan just three days before the trial of Junah Sisney was set to begin. Sisney, 23, is accused of attempted capital murder after allegedly firing a gun at multiple people on Dec. 30, 2022, outside of the Bullpen Bar in Baldwin City, before driving around the block, firing at more people near the Baldwin City Library, then returning to the bar and firing again.

Sisney’s attorney, Nicholas David, told Donovan on Friday that he had not received a report from a psychologist whom the state was intending to call as a rebuttal witness at Sisney’s trial next week. David also represented, with evident indignation, that the psychologist, whom he called “an agent of the state,” had interviewed Sisney without David being told about it. His comments came as he was asking Donovan to disallow testimony from the psychologist or, in the alternative, to delay the trial until he had time to prepare for the additional expert.

Those representations were apparently untrue, although when David acknowledged that late Friday afternoon he told Donovan that the misrepresentations were unintentional.

“It appears that I made a mistake,” he said.

Donovan was not satisfied with that explanation, telling David, “That is incredibly troubling to this court,” referring not to mistakenly overlooking an email, which she said anyone could do, but to failing to exercise due diligence before “doubling down” on his assertions about the report and the psychologist while vigorously asserting that the state had somehow acted improperly.

Attorneys have legal obligations of due diligence toward their clients and candor toward the court.

The state, represented by Senior Assistant District Attorney David Melton, demonstrated that the psychologist’s report had in fact been emailed to David on May 14, 2024 — nearly a year and a half ago. And Donovan pointed out that there had been multiple conversations in open court for some time about the psychologist and the prospect of his testifying.

Donovan concluded that the defense was properly on notice and that the state would be allowed to call the psychologist as a rebuttal witness for a trial to start Monday, but she then addressed Melton’s point that the defendant might want to reconsider David representing him.

“I think that’s a serious concern,” she said, then recessed for an hour and a half for Sisney and David to discuss the matter.

When court reconvened, David told Donovan that the “allegations” that had been made against him created a conflict with Sisney, who had “lost some confidence” in David, and who now wanted him to withdraw.

“I screwed that up,” David told Donovan, “but there was no intention to defraud the court.”

Donovan ordered David’s withdrawal — saying his representation “would not be fair” to Sisney — and tolled the speedy trial period. She scheduled Sisney for a status conference on Nov. 18, at which time she will consider how the case will proceed with a new attorney on board.

Melton told the court that the DA’s Office intended to report David to the Office of the Disciplinary Administrator, the state agency that reviews and investigates complaints of misconduct against attorneys.