One of the Sievers Homicide Trials Likely to Start Tomorrow

It’s been over four years since Dr. Theresa Sievers was brutally murdered in her Lee County home. Her husband Mark Sievers, Mark’s friend from Missouri Curtis Wayne Wright, and an apparent acquaintance of Wright’s who is also from Missouri, Jimmy “The Hammer” Rodgers were all arrested for the killing and charged with First Degree Murder. Curtis Wright later entered a plea to murder in exchange for 25 years in prison with an agreement to give substantial assistance in the other cases, which means he will need to testify for the state. Sievers and Wright are facing the death penalty.

Theresa Sievers

Both defendants are seeking a continuance of the trial, but the judge is eager for prosecution to go forward. He has set four weeks aside to handle the case on the court calendar, and a few weeks ago the cases were severed, so they will not be tried together. That means only one can go, and Rodgers is the most likely to start this month. Since the jury must be death qualified, it will take several days to pick a jury, and maybe a couple weeks, especially in light of the media coverage the case has gained. But we won’t know until the cases go before the judge in the morning.

Man Accused of Beating people with his Prosthetic Arm… AGAIN!

Joshua Stockinger

Talk about armed and dangerous… (sorry, couldn’t help myself). A Missouri man has been arrested and charged with multiple felonies after he took off his prosthetic arm and beat a couple during a road rage incident. Remarkably, he is already facing charges for doing the same thing to a law enforcement officer back in May.

This attack sounds serious, as one of the victims suffered broken legs from the incident. Bond has been set high this time, and hopefully he sits in jail long enough to learn a lesson this time around.

Both Sievers Murder Suspects were in Florida at the Time of the Murder

Curtis Wayne Wright & Jimmy “The Hammer” Rodgers

Wink News is reporting that the Sheriff’s office has confirmed that not only was Jimmy Rodgers in Florida at the time of the murder (though, not at his brother’s graduation, as he apparently told his employer,) but Curtis Wayne Wright was in Florida with him. Apparently they were both confirmed to have gone to a local Wal-Mart, and may have purchased something related to the crime, though the Sheriff is still mum on what that may have been.

That puts both suspects in Florida, though Curtis Wright’s attorney in Missouri has denied that his client had anything to do with the crime, saying the evidence will show Wright did not participate in the crime. He hasn’t been convicted yet, but the circumstantial evidence is damning: he’s the connection between Sievers and Jimmy “The Hammer” Rodgers, and now we know he traveled to Florida with Rodgers at the time of the murder. That doesn’t prove his guilt, but there is a lot of smoke not to have a fire.

Full Coverage of the Sievers murder case.

NBC Caught Up with Dr. Sievers’ Husband

Theresa Sievers

NBC-2 caught up with Mark Sievers, the husband of the Bonita Springs doctor that was murdered a couple months ago. He has been laying low recently, but NBC found him outside his late wife’s former practice. Unsurprisingly, all he said was “No comment.”

To recap, Dr. Theresa Sievers was brutally murdered in her home in Bonita Springs. At the time, her husband and family were out of town. About a week ago, two arrests were made, and two men from Missouri have been charged in her murder. There is evidence that at least one of those men, Jimmy Rodgers, traveled to Florida at the time of her murder, and he has now admitted to it as a violation of his Federal probation on illegal gun possession charges.

The other man, Curtis Wayne Wright, was a childhood friend of Mark Sievers. Sievers has not been named as a suspect in the murders, nor as a person of interest. However, Sheriff Mike Scott has made it clear that the case is still open and the investigation continues. He has given several interviews, and declined to name Mr. Sievers as a person of interest. However, he would not rule it out on behalf of Mr. Sievers, or anyone else in the “envelope of suspicion.”

Here’s the thing that drives speculation… the major questions about the case that have gone unanswered, so far. For instance, why would Mark Sievers’ good friend commit the murder, or recruit his friend to do so? What motive do either of those men have. So far, the only known connection is their connection to Mark. There has been no indication that there was a robbery or burglary; the suspects have only been charged with murder, as far as we know. Further, Rodgers told friends that he was going to make $10,000 for his trip to Florida: where was that money coming from?

Photos Uncovered Murder Suspects Hanging Out just weeks Before Sievers’ Murder

Rodgers and Wright with Rodgers’ girlfriend

NBC-2 has located photos of Estero murder suspects hanging out with each other just weeks ahead of her brutal murder. The two men, Jimmy Rodgers and Curtis Wayne Wright, were arrested yesterday in Missouri, but there is evidence to show they had been in Florida near the time of the murder. There is apparently evidence of ties to Sievers through her husband. We are still waiting for more details regarding the evidence in the case.

via NBC-2

UPDATE: Missouri Man, Possibly a Hit Man known as “The Hammer”, Arrested in Estero Murder of Dr. Theresa Sievers

Possible Hit Man, Jimmy Rodgers, “The Hammer”

Jimmy Rodgers, of Missouri, is the man that an arrest warrant was obtained for arrest in the murder of Bonita Springs doctor, Theresa Sievers. According to NBC-2, who has owned this story, there are reports out of Missouri that people knew him as a hit man, and that he went by the nickname, “The Hammer.” While details about the murder have been closely guarded by authorities, neighbors had heard that a hammer may have been the murder weapon. Sheriff Scott previously referred to the murder as a targeted killing. NBC-2 is also reporting there is a known connection between Rodgers and  Sievers’ family.

Rodgers is already in jail in Missouri on a Federal probation violation.

UPDATE: Sheriff Mike Scott has announced that another Missouri man has also been arrested in relation to the murder. Curtis Wayne Wright is apparently a childhood friend of Sievers’ husband, according to NBC-2. Also, NBC reports that Rodgers was spotted Lee County at the time of the murders, and made admissions to people in Missouri about committing the murder.

Curtis Wayne Wright’s possible Facebook photo, per NBC-2

Moron Punches Self in Face, Tries to Blame Cops

Aleksander Tomaszewski Mug Shot

Aleksander Tomaszewski of Eugene, Oregon thought he’d get himself out of jail if he claimed that the cops beat him up (incorrect). To bolster his lie, he punched himself in the face repeatedly, generating the bruises you can see in his mug shot. Unbeknownst to him, he was being recorded by a jail video camera the whole time. Needless to say, that did not aid in his efforts to be released from custody. As the NYDY points out– very “Fight Club”!

Crimcourts has long been an advocate of more cameras for law enforcement use. The cameras in this jail proved this criminal’s allegations to be false. They are a great tool, and it would really only take some cursory training to make sure that officers don’t try to game the system like these cops recently in St. Louis.

Be sure to watch the video, available on the NBC-2 link.

 

CNN Wants to Remind You it is Legal to Record Officers

CNN, as part of their Ferguson coverage, did a video piece on whether it is legal to record police officers. Yes, yes it is…

In the words of Jeffrey Mittman, the legal expert they spoke to, “you have an absolute right to make a document, a recording, of interactions with a government official.” He goes on to say it is improper for an officer to suggest otherwise. It was an issue with previous Ferguson protests where officers repeatedly told people to stop recording. People cannot physically interfere with an officer’s investigation, but merely making a recording does not do that. That’s a Constitutional right under the First Amendment.

http://www.cnn.com/video/api/embed.html#/video/us/2014/11/19/erin-dnt-sidner-police-mistrust-ferguson.cnn

Man Who Wasn’t Sent to Prison Freed by Judge

• Mike Anderson was sentenced to 13 years, but released on a clerical error.
• They realized the error at his intended release date, and only then picked him up.
• Today, a judge set him free.

Today a Missouri judge granted Mike Anderson credit for the past 13 years, even though he was not in custody. The general rule is that people are entitled to credit if they are released due to no fault of their own. Anderson’s case was up in the air, as he was out on a supersedeas appellate bond, but was never given a date to report… so the credit may not have been running. The judge, noting that he had made wholesale life changes, today agreed to give him full credit for the time, and allowed him to be released today. Check out the video to see a guy with a really big smile: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/05/05/judge-frees-robber-who-skipped-prison/8722645/

Attorney charged with murder by forgery

Susan Elizabeth “Liz” Van Note

From ABA Journal: A Missouri attorney is charged with murder of her father for presenting a forged Power of Attorney (POA) to the hospital that was treating him after he was shot and stabbed.  After he initially survived the shooting, doctors were presented with a false durable POA for health care.  The witnesses to the POA have also been indicted as conspirators.  The state may be proceeding on a Felony Murder theory against attorney Susan Elizabeth “Liz” Van Note, which means that someone died in the course of the commission of a felony: in this case, forgery.  That’s how her alleged conspirators are charged, though the case has been filed as a first degree murder.  The Kansas City Star has a detailed story on the case here.

I’m not familiar with the intricacies of Missouri law, but the First Degree Murder charge suggests to me that the state is pursuing an intentional or premeditated murder theory for Ms. Van Note.  That’s a more serious charge than felony murder, because the state is alleging that her act (presenting the forged document) procured her father’s death.  Apparently there was some suspicion that the shootings were not random.  I don’t know if the state has evidence of who caused the shootings, but Ms. Van Note’s attorney claims that there is no physical evidence pointing to his client.  The police have indicated she was a person of interest within a few days of the incident.  But they don’t need to prove who was the shooter to proceed with the Death by Forgery theory.  Her attorney has conceded that the POA was forged, but that it was a duplicate of one he had signed.

The Star reports that Mr. Van Note’s will left several things to his fiancée, but only if she survived him.  Coupled with the death tax loophole when the death occurred in 2010, and Ms. Van Note stood to see additional millions for the deaths happening the way they did.  Apparently, though, she still stood to inherit quite a bit upon her father’s death, regardless of circumstances. 

The case has a local tie, as Mr. Van Note had a home in Port Charlotte, Florida, and apparently the will is going through probate in SWFL as well.

The MOBar (Missouri Bar) still lists her as an active attorney in good standing:

MOBar attorney search

#badlawyers #vannote #murderbyforgery

http://lakeexpo.com/news/lake_news/article_713ee904-0646-11e2-a249-001a4bcf887a.html