Florida Supreme Court upholds conviction of Bonita Springs man accused of killing wife

Nearly a month after the Florida Supreme Court denied a motion by a Bonita Springs man on death row for the murder of his wife in 2015 that sought to overturn a recent ruling, the case has taken another step forward.

Court records show that on February 10, the Florida Supreme Court upheld the conviction of first-degree murder, the corresponding death sentence, and the conviction for conspiracy to commit murder in the case of 54-year-old Mark Sievers.

The state confirmed the allegations a week after the Office of the Metropolitan Regional Counsel for the Southern Region ordered Sievers to be prosecuted following the conviction. The deadline for filing a Notice of Appearance or filing a motion for withdrawal based on conflict of interest is March 5, as stated in the documents.

Appeal denied:Mark Sievers, convicted in 2015 of the contract killing of his wife Teresa, has dismissed an appeal on death row.

Request denied:The judge denied the motion of Mark Sievers, accused of killing his wife for hire in 2015

The next step would be for Governor Ron DeSantis to sign the death warrant, stating the date of Sievers’ execution.

On December 4, 2019, a jury found Sievers guilty of the murder of Teresa Sievers, a 46-year-old physician from Southwest Florida.

On June 28, 2015, Teresa Sievers left her family vacation and returned alone to her home in Bonita Springs.

After she drove into the garage, collected her luggage and entered the house, Curtis Wayne Wright and Jimmie Ray Rogers hit her over the head with hammers.

Court records indicate that the conspiracy began weeks earlier when Mark Sievers traveled to Missouri for Wright’s May wedding.

According to the documents, Wright agreed to “take care of it” for at least $100,000 in life insurance earnings. Wright later hired Rogers.

Lee District Judge Bruce Kyle sentenced Rogers to life in prison, found guilty by a Lee County jury of second-degree murder and trespassing in October 2019.

On February 10, 2020, Kyle sentenced Wright to 25 years for his role in the murder of Teresa Sievers.

Over the past few months, Sievers has tried to reverse the recent decision, claiming there was no evidence.

The story goes on

The motion, filed on December 1, 2022, alleged that the court rejected two interviews with Wright in 2016 — a full video and a short excerpt, both of which appear in the case. Sievers asked to include an excerpt from a February 2016 meeting in which Wright is trying to negotiate the terms of a plea deal to spare his wife, who was suspected of being involved.

The motion argued that the exclusion of “material” video evidence violated Sievers’ constitutional rights under the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments.

The motion also sought the exclusion of a neighbor’s testimony, which recounted snippets of an argument she had overheard between husband and wife in the weeks prior to the murder.

Sievers’ defense contends that the court overlooked the possibility that the jury improperly used the testimony to corroborate Wright’s testimony regarding Sievers’ motivations.

Sievers’ lawyers argued that Wright’s testimony alone did not meet constitutional standards to justify Sievers’ conviction and death sentence, given the lack of corroboration, the terms of the deal made with Wright, and his alleged tendency to lie to police and prosecutors.

Sievers’ appeal to death row was rejected in November.

Thomas Rodriguez is a breaking news reporter for the Naples Daily News and News-Press. You can contact Thomas at [email protected] or 772-333-5501. Contact him on Twitter @TomasFRoBeltransInstagram @tomasfrobeltran and Facebook @tomasrodrigueznews.

This article originally appeared in the Fort Myers News-Press: Florida Supreme Court upholds conviction of Mark Sievers.

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