No exit for Sievers after judge denies bond reduction
By ABC7 | April 21, 2016
A judge denied a motion Thursday to reduce Mark Sievers' bond on a second-degree murder charge.
Sievers' new attorney took the case back to the court of Judge Bruce Kyle to argue the $4.43 million bond was too much, and asked for a reduction to $250,000.
The $4.43 million total was established based on the value of insurance policies on Sievers' slain wife, Teresa - but none of that cash has been released by any of the insurance companies.
Mark Sievers answered dozens of questions that covered those policies, their home ownership, and shared responsibilities. But nothing he said was substantial enough to change the bond amount.
"They are not willing to pay anything out until the investigation is concluded," Sievers said. "They will not release any funds until the conclusion of this investigation, is what they've communicated with me. I'm not entitled to receive or benefit at all from anything pertaining to the estate or joint assets or anything of my wife until this is concluded and I'm acquitted."
His attorney, Michael Mummert, argued that it might as well be zero because he said Mark Sievers doesn't have anything close to the amount that would get him out of jail.
Mummert had hoped a lower bond would not only get him out but allow him a chance to fight for parental rights in a case with the Department of Children and Families regarding custody of his two daughters.
The state, though, revisited allegations that Mark Sievers' best friend, Curtis Wright, was hired for the murder.
Wright told investigators he was paid by Mark Sievers, a claim Sievers' attorney reminded was being made by a convicted felon.
Source:
http://www.abc-7.com/story/31786230/no- ... -reduction