Missouri man gets 25 years for doctor's fatal beating

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) - A Missouri man is the third and final defendant sentenced for the fatal beating of a well-known doctor in southwest Florida.

Lee Circuit Judge Bruce Kyle sentenced Curtis Wayne Wright Jr., 51, to 25 years in prison Monday, the Naples Daily News reported. The term had been part of a deal with prosecutors when Wright pleaded guilty in 2016 to second-degree murder in exchange for his testimony against his co-defendants.

"Your lawyer did a good job for you," Kyle told Wright after the sentencing. "I don't know if it was the position you were in was by luck or because it was pre-planned, but good luck to you."

Dr. Teresa Sievers was found dead at her Bonita Springs home from an apparent hammer attack in June 2015, authorities said.

Her husband, Mark Sievers, recruited Wright and another Missouri man, Jimmy Ray Rodgers, 29, to kill his wife, prosecutors said. Sievers and Wright had been childhood friends in Missouri.

Wright and Rodgers killed Teresa Sievers with hammers after she returned home alone from a family vacation, prosecutors said. Mark Sievers was still on vacation with the couple's two daughters and his wife's family when the slaying occurred.

Wright testified that the Sievers were having marriage problems, and Mark Sievers feared losing his daughters. Prosecutors said Mark Sievers was also motivated in part by large life insurance policies on his wife.

Mark Sievers was convicted of first-degree murder and received the death penalty. Rodgers was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.