Sievers attorneys want jury pool isolated, some evidence omitted

Defense attorneys continue forward with strategic litigation to protect their clients accused in the 2015 murder of Dr. Teresa Sievers in Lee County Monday.

A handful of motions focus not only on protecting the potential jury but the image of accused men Mark Sievers and Jimmy Rodgers in the much-anticipated murder trial set to happen this summer.

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Requests by the defense:

The defense attorneys are asking that potential jurors be given some type of visible identification as soon as they get to the courthouse and then isolated through the selection process. They also requested jurors be asked individually about their views on the death penalty and the publicity case.

In one motion, the defense said, “As this is a capital case, heightened standards of due process apply.” These are things the defense is attempting to prevent any tainting of the jury pool, since this case has already been covered locally and nationally.

The defense is also asking the judge to limit the number of gruesome pictures, not only of the crime but more specifically of the victim Dr. Teresa Seivers. The defense wants to make sure they meet a test for relevancy to the case.

We spoke to an attorney unassociated with the case about why a lawyer would make this request.

“The defense is just gonna rely on … a judge maybe instead of introducing five or six or seven pictures of this or however many there are; maybe just one is enough,” said Attorney Daniel Garza, with Wilbur Law. “The jury doesn’t need to flip through a dozen pictures of the same thing, where all they’re seeing is blood in their face.”

Garza said we can assume the state will argue the jury does need to see all the crime scene photos.

Judge Bruce Kyle will make a decision on the motion requests in May.

The motions we presented are just a few out of the more than a dozen motions the defense for Mark and Rodgers presented to the judge.

MORE: Attorneys request forensic psychologist to be allowed access to Mark Sievers