FORT MYERS, Fla. (Scripps News Fort Myers) — The Supreme Court of Florida upheld the conviction and sentence for Mark Sievers.
Mark Sievers was found guilty of hiring two men to kill his wife, Dr. Teresa Sievers, in their Bonita Springs home in 2015. Presiding Judge Bruce Kyle sentenced Sievers to the death penalty following the guilty verdict.
This January 3, 2020, image from video shows convicted murderer Mark Sievers during his sentencing. Sievers was sentenced to death for the brutal killing of his wife, Dr. Teresa Sievers. (Court TV)
Sievers’ attorneys requested a new trial on Dec. 22, 2021.
Court TV’s Trial Archives | FL v. Mark Sievers: Hammer Killing Murder Trial
Today, the Supreme Court of Florida filed a 38-page order on the case following an appeal by the defendant.
Documents filed with the court show attorneys claim “newly discovered material evidence” of Sievers’ innocence.
The motion makes mention of a letter and a sworn statement from Jimmy Rodgers, one of the two men said to have been hired by Sievers, written Dec. 20. In that letter, Rodgers states that Curtis Wright killed Teresa with a hammer after she refused to give him room to stay at her house, and “that there was no agreement or conspiracy to commit murder.”
A reply from Assistant State Attorney Cynthia Ross and Hamid Hunter was filed on Jan. 3. They argue the motion is “untimely”, due to Sievers’ previous appeal of his 2019 conviction, which was pending in the Florida Supreme Court.
A previous request for a new trial was denied in 2020.
This story was originally published Scripps News Fort Myers, an E.W. Scripps Company.
