A Bonita Springs man sentenced to death for orchestrating the 2015 murder of his wife is asking the court to vacate his death sentence, calling the judge’s ruling in his case unconstitutional and citing disputes between the defense team and the mitigation specialist.
A mitigation specialist is a key component of the defense team, particularly in capital murder trials, where they work to lessen the accused’s sentence.
Lee Circuit Judge Bruce Kyle sentenced Mark Sievers, 56, to death on Jan. 16, 2020, for the June 28, 2015, murder-for-hire of his wife, Teresa Sievers, 46.
On June 28, 2015, Teresa Sievers, a Southwest Florida doctor, left a family vacation and returned alone to her Bonita Springs home.
After she pulled into the garage, retrieved her luggage and walked into the house, Curtis Wayne Wright Jr., 56, and Jimmy Ray Rodgers, 34, beat her with hammers.
Court records indicate the plot began weeks earlier, when Mark Sievers traveled to Missouri for Wright’s May wedding.
Wright agreed to “take care of it” for at least $100,000 in life insurance proceeds, the records show. Wright later recruited Rodgers.