Florida Judge sentences Mark Sievers to death for wife's brutal murder

Sievers was found guilty of first-degree murder for plotting his wife’s murder.

FORT MYERS, Fla. - A judge has sentenced Mark Sievers to death.

Sievers was found guilty of first-degree murder for plotting his wife’s murder.

Dr. Teresa Sievers was killed in her Bonita Springs home in 2015.

Investigators believe Mark asked his best friend, Curtis Wright, to murder her.

Wright testified that he and another man, Jimmy Rodgers, beat Teresa to death with a hammer.

The same jury that found Mark guilty of first-degree murder recommended the death penalty for his sentence.

Mark spoke in court before a judge sentenced him. He said he is innocent, he is heartbroken, and Teresa was his soulmate. Listen to the full statement here.

Rodgers was found guilty of second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison.

Wright took a plea deal which required him to testify in both Rodgers and Mark’s trial.

He will serve 25 years in prison.

Source: nbc-2.com, Vanessa Bein, January 3, 2020

16 aggravating factors that determine eligibility for the death penalty in Florida

In Southwest Florida, Mark Sievers, who was convicted in the 2015 murder of his wife, was sentenced to death for first-degree murder Friday. But how are death sentences in Florida determined?

According to Florida Statute (Fl. Stat. 921.141(6)), the eligibility of an individual for the death penalty is determined by sufficient "aggravating factors" the state intends to prove and has reason to believe it can prove beyond a reasonable doubt.

Here are those 16 factors:

The capital felony was committed by a person previously convicted of a felony and under sentence of imprisonment or placed on community control or on felony probation.
The defendant was previously convicted of another capital felony or of a felony involving the use or threat of violence to the person.
The defendant knowingly created a great risk of death to many persons.
The capital felony was committed while the defendant was engaged, or was an accomplice, in the commission of, or an attempt to commit, or flight after committing or attempting to commit, any: robbery; sexual battery; aggravated child abuse; abuse of an elderly person or disabled adult resulting in great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement; arson; burglary; kidnapping; aircraft piracy; or unlawful throwing, placing, or discharging of a destructive device or bomb.
The capital felony was committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest or effecting an escape from custody.
The capital felony was committed for pecuniary gain.
The capital felony was committed to disrupt or hinder the lawful exercise of any governmental function or the enforcement of laws.
The capital felony was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel.
The capital felony was a homicide and was committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification.
The victim of the capital felony was a law enforcement officer engaged in the performance of his or her official duties.
The victim of the capital felony was an elected or appointed public official engaged in the performance of his or her official duties if the motive for the capital felony was related, in whole or in part, to the victim’s official capacity.
The victim of the capital felony was a person less than 12 years of age.
The victim of the capital felony was particularly vulnerable due to advanced age or disability, or because the defendant stood in a position of familial or custodial authority over the victim.
The capital felony was committed by a criminal gang member, as defined in s. 874.03.
The capital felony was committed by a person designated as a sexual predator pursuant to s. 775.21 or a person previously designated as a sexual predator who had the sexual predator designation removed.
The capital felony was committed by a person subject to an injunction issued pursuant to s.741.30 or s. 784.046, or a foreign protection order accorded full faith and credit pursuant to s.741.315, and was committed against the petitioner who obtained the injunction or protection order or any spouse, child, sibling, or parent of the petitioner.

There are no executions scheduled for 2020 in Florida, but there are 19 scheduled in total for other states, including Texas, Ohio, Tennessee and Georgia, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Death sentences in the United States fell by more than half over the course of the 2010s, according to a DPIC analysis published in January this year.

Source: news-press.com, Oscar Santiago Torres, Fort Myers News-Press, January 3, 2020

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

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