Sievers pleads the fifth to murder question at custody hearing

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- (WBBH) -- Who murdered Teresa Sievers?

That's the question a lawyer asked Mark Sievers on Wednesday at the Lee County Justice Complex.

But it wasn't in a murder trial. Rather, it came in a custody hearing for the couple's two young daughters.

One of the key elements of the case for the Department of Children and Families is that Mark Sievers is unable to parent from behind bars, and much of their case hinges on his assumed guilt in the murder of his wife in June 2015.

The attorney representing Guardian ad Litem ultimately asked the question, but Mark Sievers' attorney, Michael Mummert, immediately invoked his client's Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination.

The decision to plead the fifth in family court can be held against Mark Sievers, but his attorneys expected the question and argued that his silence alone does not warrant taking away his parental rights.