By Steve Fry
Topeka Capital-Journal
TOPEKA, Kan. — First, Chief Judge Nancy Parrish sentenced double-murderer Dana Chandler to two consecutive hard-50 prison terms - a total of 100 years - then the judge commented how Chandler upended the lives of her children.
The sentences mean Chandler would have to serve 100 years before appearing in front of a parole board.
Chandler, 52, received a hard-50 sentence for each conviction of premeditated first-degree murder for the slayings on July 7, 2002, of Chandler’s ex-husband, Mike Sisco, 47, and his fiancee, Karen Harkness, 53.
“I’m grateful for the sentence,” District Attorney Chad Taylor said. “I’m thankful the fears and concerns of the (victim) families are now over.”
Taylor said he was pleased there is closure for Topeka in this decade-long homicide case.
Taylor questioned coroner Donald Pojman and Michael Van Stratton, crime laboratory director for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, who testified Harkness and Sisco didn’t die instantly after being shot multiple times each.
According to testimony, a scorned Chandler drove a round trip from Denver to Topeka to break into the Harkness home in southwest Topeka where she ambushed the sleeping couple, shooting them 10 to 12 times.
The aggravating circumstances to impose the hard-50 terms were Chandler purposely killed more than one person, and Chandler committed the slayings in “an especially heinous, atrocious or cruel manner” based on prior stalking of the victims and inflicting mental anguish since neither victim died instantly, Parrish said.
The judge could have sentenced Chandler to two concurrent life terms with parole eligibility after 25 years, two consecutive life terms with parole eligibility after 50 years, two concurrent hard-50s, and two consecutive hard-50s.
“Your acts were extremely self-centered,” Parrish said. “It is really inconceivable that a mother could scar her children so deeply.”
The judge said the scarring conduct continued Monday when Chandler read some emails written by Harkness into the court record about the challenges Harkness felt as she dated Sisco, who had two teenage children.
To shift blame of stalking away from herself, Chandler suggested that Hailey Sisco, the daughter of her and Mike, had broken a basement window in Sisco’s home to sneak out of the house.
Parrish said Chandler “emotionally deserted” Hailey, then 17, and son Dustin, then 15. The judge noted her “total absence” from the lives of her children after the slayings.
“It wasn’t about the children’s lives, but it was about yours,” Parrish said. “It devastated you that (Mike Sisco) continued with his life.”
Before Chandler was sentenced, survivors of the victims, gave impassioned statements about he impact of the slayings.
- Hailey Sisco, now 27, speaking for herself and Dustin, now 25, said their father was the parent who taught them to have strength while he suffered pain from Chandler. Hailey referred to Chandler as “this monster.”
“We’ve been robbed of security, love and support of the person who took care of us and raised us for our whole lives,” Hailey Sisco said.
“It hurts on the deepest level to know that your mother, who says she loves you, could hurt you so bad,” Hailey said. “She had the hearts of Dustin and I completely vulnerable to her, and she did the unthinkable: she ripped them out, sent them through a meat grinder and spit on them.”
- “Thirty years ago I stood with my big brother, Mike, at his wedding to Dana Chandler,” Tim Sisco said. “Today I stand here for Mike as I face his murderer, Dana Chandler.”
The only way the Sisco family could move on without being fearful for their safety and security would be for Chandler to receive the maximum sentence, Tim said.
“Her sense of self-rightousness and lack of regard for others will always present a threat to society,” Tim said.
- Cathy Boots, Mike Sisco’s sister, told Chandler she had “burned my brother and my friend. You and your sister will not touch the children again. I will not allow you to take one more second of my time, not one more second of my time.”
- Erin Sutton, the daughter of Harkness, said her mother looked forward to having grandchildren.
The fact Karen couldn’t be in the lives of her grandchildren “brings me to my knees,” Sutton said, referring to her mother as her best friend.
After a short break, Parrish imposed the hard-50s.
Chandler acted as her own attorney on Monday. Parrish denied her request for a new trial or acquittal and appointed an appellate defender to represent her.
The only supporter to speak on behalf of Chandler was a nephew, Kenneth Hukill, who said Chandler would be exonerated when her case goes to the Kansas Supreme Court.
Keen Umbehr, an Alma lawyer who was with Hukill, said he thought Chandler was innocent and there is reversible error in the Chandler trial. Umbehr isn’t representing Chandler.
After Chandler was sentenced, Harold Worswick, 86, smiled in a courtroom hallway. Worswick, the father of Karen Harkness, discovered the bodies of his daughter and Sisco.
“It’s come to an end, and that’s what the families have wanted,” Worswick said. “The sentence is the maximum. It’s been a long ride, but it’s been worth it.”
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