Teen pleads guilty to murdering his sister

Fifteen-year-old Tristan Potts pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree murder and related charges in the shooting death a year ago of his 12-year-old sister, Teresa Potts, outside their home near Jasper.

Circuit Judge David Mouton accepted the boy's change of plea in Jasper County Circuit Court on counts of armed criminal action and attempted first-degree arson, as well as the murder charge, and ordered a sentencing assessment of the youth by the local probation office.

The judge further ordered that the Division of Youth Services evaluate the teen for possible placement in the state's dual jurisdiction program at Montgomery City.

The boy, who was 13 years old when he shot his sister in the head and shoulder on Oct. 8, 2015, with a gun he obtained from their adoptive father's gun cabinet, was certified in April of this year to stand trial as an adult.

The dual jurisdiction program provides youths convicted of serious crimes with treatment, education and vocational training. Whereas youths adjudicated in juvenile court must be released from juvenile detention centers when they reach their 18th birthday, those convicted as adults and sent to the dual jurisdiction program may be held until they turn 21. If the court decides they should remain in custody past the age of 21, their sentence may be transferred to an adult prison.

The boy is believed to have been preparing to set the family's home on fire and run off to Georgia. He had been in contact through Facebook with a female in Georgia and created lists of the supplies he would need to make the trip and things to do before he left that were discovered in his bedroom and in his locker at school.

He shot his sister shortly after arriving home on a school bus and fled into some woods after the shooting. The father, Bill Potts, reported hearing three shots fired as he was approaching the residence in search of his daughter.

Deputies who responded to a 911 call reporting the shooting found the girl mortally wounded in the yard of the family's residence on Placid Road, the interior of the home in disarray and black gunpowder strewn throughout the rooms, with the notable exception of Tristan's bedroom.

There were about 500 rounds of .22-caliber ammunition in two skillets in the kitchen. The boy was located by deputies near a shop building behind the house, close to where investigators eventually recovered two handguns missing from the father's gun collection. One of the guns was a.22-caliber handgun.

An autopsy determined the girl was shot with a .22-caliber gun and the boy tested positive for gunshot residue on his hands.

Psychologist's recommendations

A psychologist who tested and interviewed Tristan Potts after he killed his sister testified at his adult certification hearing that he was socially immature and angry with low self-esteem and feelings that he is not liked by others.

She said he was particularly angry with his adoptive family and recommended that he not be returned to them but placed in a structured treatment program with job skills training.