The Bonita Springs man, accused within the 2015 killing of his spouse with two different males, was discovered responsible as charged by a Lee County Jury on Wednesday.
Mark Sievers, 51, was convicted of first-degree homicide and conspiracy to commit homicide after jurors deliberated for about 4 hours.
His spouse, Teresa Sievers, 46, was discovered bludgeoned to demise on the kitchen ground of her household's dwelling on Jarvis Street in Bonita Springs on June 29, 2015.
The trial for Mark Sievers will now transfer right into a penalty section, the place it is going to be decided if Mark Sievers is sentenced to demise.
Jurors will return to the Lee County Justice Middle at eight:30 a.m. Tuesday for the subsequent portion of the trial.
Members of Teresa Sievers' household, together with her mom and siblings, sat within the second row of the gallery behind the prosecution desk for the decision studying.
A big group of Teresa Sievers' household and associates, some who testified within the trial, started crying and embraced one another with hugs after jurors left the courtroom.
"We're clearly very pleased with the decision," Teresa Sievers' brother Patrick Tottenham mentioned as he walked out of the courtroom and into an elevator to go away the constructing.
Teresa Sievers' sister Ann Lisa mentioned she was relieved and felt justice had been served.
"It has been a very long time," Lisa mentioned by means of tears. "I simply can't wait to place it behind and begin residing my life. I am simply so glad it is over. We simply need to get on with our lives now."
Mark Sievers didn't react when the decision was learn, and he appeared he might have been in shock whereas the choose mentioned scheduling for the subsequent portion of the trial.
Protection attorneys Michael Mummert and Gregory Messore didn't touch upon the decision.
Through the subsequent section of the trial, prosecutors must show past an affordable doubt that at the very least one aggravating issue applies to Mark Sievers to make him eligible for the demise penalty.
"We're happy with the jury's verdict," mentioned Assistant State Lawyer Cynthia Ross as she left the courtroom. "However that is solely the primary stage and there's the second section that's coming subsequent week so it is time for us to get again to work."
Florida Statute outlines 16 aggravating components, together with some associated to the defendant's legal historical past and the age and particular person of the sufferer.
If the offense was dedicated for "pecuniary acquire" that can also be thought-about an aggravating issue, per Florida Statue.
Through the guilt section of the trial, prosecutors claimed Mark Sievers deliberate his spouse's homicide with the assistance from his greatest pal Curtis Wayne Wright Jr.
Prosecutors alleged Mark Sievers was motivated partly by the massive life insurance coverage insurance policies on Teresa Sievers on the time of her demise and mentioned Wright enlisted Jimmy Rodgers to assist with the homicide.
Each of Mark Sievers' co-defendants within the case are awaiting sentencing. Rodgers was convicted by a Lee County jury of second-degree homicide on Oct. 23 after a few monthlong trial.
Wright pleaded responsible to second-degree homicide in 2016 in alternate for a 25-year jail sentence. He testified on behalf of the prosecution within the Rodgers trial and the Mark Sievers trial.
Within the subsequent portion of the trial, all of the jurors should agree that prosecutors proved at the very least one aggravating issue applies to the defendant then the protection will get to current mitigating circumstances.
The protection might be allowed to current something referring to Mark Sievers' background, psychological well being, character or report that will give the jury a purpose to spare his life or that might persuade the jury that life with out parole is sufficient.
After the proof is offered, the jury should vote unanimously to impose the demise sentence to maneuver ahead. Then the ultimate choice throughout a demise penalty trial in Florida comes from the choose.
The trial is being presided over by Lee Circuit Decide Bruce Kyle.
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