A jury found a Waukegan man not guilty Wednesday evening of the attempted murder of Waukegan police officers.
Johnny Sisson was charged with two counts of attempted murder and one count of aggravated discharge of a firearm at a peace officer after Waukegan police said he had fired at two officers during a Nov. 22 investigation into an armed robbery.
Sisson, 36, was found not guilty of those charges at 6:45 last night following a trial in Lake County Circuit Court before Judge Mark Levitt, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Jim Newman.
Sisson was represented at trial by Jason Powell with the Lake County Public Defender’s Office.
The jury did convict him of reckless discharge of a weapon, Newman said, and he faces separate charges of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon by a felon in a trial scheduled Nov. 2.
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According to Waukegan police, Sisson, whom police described as homeless, was taken into custody without incident on Nov. 26, 2014, near the intersection of Grand Avenue and Indiana Street after being “actively” sought as a suspect in the shooting.
“There were officers who were familiar with him, especially with his homeless situation,” Cmdr. Joe Florip said at the time of his arrest.
According to police, the shooting took place about 7 p.m. Nov. 22 after two patrol officers responded to an armed-robbery report. That incident, near Glen Rock and Lincoln avenues, was one of four such incidents reported to police around the city between Nov. 14 and Nov. 22 of last year.
In each case, a man either displayed or pointed a handgun at victims when taking cash and possessions, police said.
Police said that officers in the Glen Rock incident attempted to approach the suspect, but that the “subject fired one round at the responding police officers and then fled on foot.”
In announcing Sisson’s arrest in the shooting incident, police also reported that he was the suspect in the Nov. 22 robbery, though Florip said the victim has declined to press charges.
Police reports also stated that at the time of his arrest, Sisson was wanted on a warrant for failing to appear in court for a September 2013 domestic battery offense.
Sisson remains in Lake County Jail on $1 million bond with the second trial pending, Newman said.
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