Curtis Wayne Wright charged with murder of Dr. Teresa Sievers
LATEST UPDATE
The state has filed second-degree murder charges against Curtis Wayne Wright Jr. for the killing of Dr. Teresa Sievers.
The charges were filed late Monday, said State Attorney Samantha Syoen.
She added "The delay in filing charges was because the office needed the weekend to go through all the evidence."
Check back with news-press.com on this developing story.
———————————————
EARLIER COVERAGE
A Lee County judge Monday pushed back the arraignment two weeks for one of the men jailed in the murder of Estero doctor Teresa Sievers.
Florida prosecutors have not filed charges against 47-year-old Curtis Wayne Wright Jr., who was extradited to Lee County on Oct. 15. Wright's arraignment, which was scheduled for Monday, was pushed to Nov. 30 by Judge J. Frank Porter.
In a "Good Cause" notice filed Friday, Assistant State Attorney Hamid Hunter acknowledges that prosecutors have not filed an indictment in the case, noting prosecutors did not receive "documentation of an investigation into the matters regarding this case" until Oct. 30. "The documentation is voluminous and must be reviewed thoroughly prior to a filing decision by the State," the court filing reads.
Sievers murder suspect's attorney 'preparing for trial'
Hunter asked that Wright remain in custody until the prosecutors can file the official charges on or before Nov. 23, which is 40 days after Wright's arrest.
State law reads that "defendants automatically be released on their own recognizance on the 33rd day unless the state files formal charges by that date" and that no defendant will remain in custody longer than 40 days without being charged. Wright's clock, which started on his extradition date, expired Monday.
Samantha Syoen, a spokeswoman for the state attorney's office, said she could not comment on any of the legal questions swirling around the case because it is an active investigation.
On Friday, the attorney representing Wright filed a motion asking for his release and reminding prosecutors of their upcoming deadline.
"Our guess is given the fact that they are still conducting an investigation into other persons of interest they don't want to expose other people," Stuart Kaplan a partner at the law firm representing Wright, Kaplan, Sconzo & Parker, said Friday. "As you can imagine we are kind of in the dark, we don't have any papers from the state."
Kaplan did not return calls seeking comment on Monday.
Judge Archie B. Hayward sealed all records that detail why Wright was arrested, because Hunter said the documents would interfere with the active investigation.
A three-sentence arrest report for Wright is the most substantial public record available 4½ months after the murder.
Wright was arrested Aug. 27 and held in a Hillsboro, Missouri jail until Oct. 15 when he arrived in Lee County. Investigators say Wright is one of the two men who beat 46-year-old Sievers to death in her Bonita Springs home June 28.
Intricate investigation of Sievers murder explained by Sheriff
Wright and a second man, 25-year-old Jimmy Rodgers of Cadet, Missouri, were arrested for the crime. Rodgers is serving a six-month sentence in Missouri for an unrelated weapons charge.
Investigators have said the two were seen at Wal-Mart in south Fort Myers the day Sievers was killed. Wright is long-time friends with Siever's husband Mark Sievers.