$8M bond set for Sanibel officer shooting suspect

FORT MYERS, Fla. —  A more than $8 million bond was set Tuesday for the man accused of shooting a Sanibel police officer.

Jon Hay, 49, was formally charged last week with four counts of attempted first-degree murder on a law enforcement officer stemming from multiple Nov. 20 encounters that shook the normally serene island community.

Hay, whose bond is precisely $8,000,030, is accused of shooting officer Jarred Ciccone in his shoulder during a traffic stop on Periwinkle Way. He later drove into The Dunes neighborhood and exchanged gunfire with Sanibel and Lee County Sheriff’s Office deputies before barricading himself in his home until he surrendered, police said.

A judge granted a request from prosecutors that DNA evidence be provided and that Hay be barred from contact with officer Chad Maik, who was one of those involved in the exchange of gunfire in The Dunes.

Hay, who remains in jail, is also charged with one count of fleeing law enforcement and one count of shooting at a vehicle.

Right to speedy trial waived in Cape Coral double-murder cold case

It could be a while longer before justice is served in a 26-year-old cold case.

Cape Coral resident Joseph Zieler waived his right to a speedy trial Tuesday, when he appeared in court for a hearing related to his indictment on first-degree murder charges. Zieler accused of killing and raping a woman and an 11-year-old girl in 1990.

The Cape Coral Police Department matched Zieler’s DNA to the crime after he was arrested for an unrelated crime in August.

Zieler’s attorney is combing through 6,000 pages of discovery in the case, she said Tuesday. Prosecutors said even more documents are coming related to years of leads that the police department followed as the case remained unsolved.

Case management is set for March.

Sievers trial tentatively set for June

A formal trial for Mark Sievers is on track to begin in June.

Sievers is accused of orchestrating the killing of his wife, Dr. Teresa Sievers, in June 2015 at their Bonita Springs home in one of the most high-profile murder cases Southwest Florida has seen in years. Attorneys for Mark Sievers appeared in court Tuesday and said they believe they’ll be ready to start proceedings June 1.

A judge declared Sievers indigent in early November, saying he’d run out of money and had no income. Sievers, who’s charged with first-degree murder, is in custody with no bond set.

The brother of Teresa Sievers wants Mark Sievers removed from the family trust, valued at $3 million. Sievers is listed as the acting trustee, the brother as the successor, and Mark and Teresa’s children as the beneficiaries.