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Jury finds Jimmy Rodgers guilty of 2nd Degree Murder

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FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Following a several week long trial, Jimmy Rodgers has been found guilty of 2nd degree murder in the death of Dr. Teresa Sievers in 2015.

The jury read the verdict at 2:20 p.m. Thursday, after nearly two full days of deliberating.

A sentencing date has been scheduled for November 18th. He is being held on no bond.

With the second-degree murder charge, Rodgers is no longer facing the death penalty.

Prosecutors said JImmy Rodgers was hired by Curtis Wright to help kill Teresa Sievers in her Bonita Springs home. They said her husband Mark Sievers hired Wright, his high school friend, to kill Teresa for $10,000 in order to collect insurance money.

Wright has taken a plea deal for a 25-year prison sentence in exchange for his testimony against Rodgers and Mark Sievers.

Mark Sievers' trial begins next month.

In Rodgers' trial, prosecutors laid out how Mark Sievers approached Wright about his plan to kill Teresa just before Wright's wedding in Missouri, saying they were headed towards a divorce and didn't want to lose their daughters.

Later, while the Sievers family was visiting family up north, Teresa headed home to Bonita Springs early. That's when prosecutors say Wright and Rodgers rented a car in Missouri and drove to Florida. They were seen buying supplies in a Fort Myers Walmart just before Teresa was found dead.

Wright testified that he and Rodgers gained entry to the Sievers home, approached her in the kitchen, and used hammers to beat her to death.

More coverage to come.

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