Mark Siever's attorney Michael Mummert spoke to Fox 4 about the State of Florida's decision to seek the death penalty against his client, one of three men charged in the 2015 murder of Sievers' wife Teresa.
Mummert said he wasn't surprised that prosecutors wanted to pursue the death penalty., but believes that the state has it wrong.
"There's a lot of finality with putting someone to death," Mummert said Thursday. "If they're wrong, there's no coming back from that."
Prosecutors say Mark Sievers hired his best friend Curtis Wright, as well as Jimmy Rodgers, to kill his wife for life insurance money.
"I believe in his innocence because I've seen the evidence," Mummert said.
Former prosecutor Joe D'Allesandro said that the state wouldn't seek such a final punishment unless they felt confident.
"You don't normally do that unless you have a good sense that you can accomplish your goal," D'Allesandro said. "So I would probably say yes, they can do it."
But even if a jury delivers the ultimate verdict, a death sentence automatically goes to the Florida Supreme Court for appeal. It's a process that can take years.
In a court appearance Thursday, Jimmy Rodgers waived his right to a speedy trial, with his public defender Kathleen Fitzgeorge explaining that it was not possible to go through the 50,000 pages of discovery in the case.
Wright is expected to serve 25 years in prison for pleading guilty to 2nd degree murder.
