Wade Wilson jury recommends death penalty in brutal Cape Coral murders. What happens now?
Wade Wilson, the Fort Myers man convicted of killing two Cape Coral women, is one step closer to being sentenced to death for his crimes.
Wilson was convicted on June 12, 2024, in Lee County on six charges, including the murders of Kristine Melton and Diane Ruiz:
Two counts of first-degree murder
First-degree murder
Grand theft
Battery
Burglary
Petty theft
On June 25, the jury in Wilson's trial voted in favor of recommending the death penalty for each of the murders.
Here's what we know about the murders Wilson committed and what is expected to happen next:
Those tattoos: Florida prisons filled with tattooed inmates. Death row's Wade Wilson another face in crowd
What did Wade Wilson do?
On October 7, 2019, Wilson, then 25 years old, met Kristine Melton, 35, and her friend Stephanie Sailors at Buddah LIVE, a Fort Myers bar.
After the bar closed, Wilson and the two women went to the home of Jayson Shepard where they stayed for several hours before leaving in the morning.
Wilson, Melton and Sailors then went Melton's Cape Coral home. After Sailors left, Wilson strangled Melton to death as she slept in her bed and stole her car.
A short time later, Wilson saw 43-year-old Diane Ruiz walking along a Cape Coral street, asked her for directions and lured her into the car.
When Ruiz tried to exit the car, Wilson attacked her, beating and strangling her before pushing her out of the car and running her over repeatedly.
After the murders, Wilson called his biological father Steven Testasecca several times confessing to and narrating the crimes. Testasecca contacted police and Wilson was arrested Oct. 8, 2019.
What did Wade Wilson get sentenced to?
On June 25, 2024, the jury in Wilson's trial recommended he receive the death penalty for each of the murders.
Jurors, who had the option of recommending life without parole or death, voted 9-3 and 10-2 for death.
It will be up to the judge to impose the death sentence.
What happens next?
Trial judge Nicholas Thompson will decide whether the death sentence recommended by the jury is imposed.
Sentencing is scheduled for July 23.
Once sentenced and other unrelated charges are resolved, Wilson will be transferred from the Lee County Jail into the Florida prison system.
Death row inmates are housed at Union Correctional Institution, formerly Florida State Prison, in Raiford. Executions are also carried out at that facility.
What will Florida's death row be like for Wade Wilson?
If Wilson is sentenced to death, he'll be housed in a cell measuring 6x9x9.5 feet on Florida's death row at Union Correctional Institution.
According to the Florida Department of Corrections, inmates on death row are allowed snacks, radios and 13” TVs, but do not have cable or air-conditioning. They wear orange T-shirts to set them apart from other inmates and the same blue pants worn by regular prisoners.
Death row inmates are served three meals a day – at 5 a.m., from 10:30 to 11 a.m. and from 4 to 4:30 p.m.. Food is prepared by prison staff and transported in insulated carts to the cells, where inmates are given sporks to eat from the provided trays.
They’re allowed showers every other day and any visitors must be preapproved. Inmates can receive mail, except on holidays and weekends.
Death Row inmates are counted at least hourly. They wear handcuffs everywhere except in their cells, the exercise yard and shower. They are in their cells except for medical reasons, exercise, social or legal visits or media interviews.
Once a death warrant is signed by the governor, the inmate is put on Death Watch status and allowed a legal and social phone call.
Methods of execution in Florida
In 1923, the Florida Legislature passed a law replacing hanging with the electric chair. An oak chair was built by prison inmates in that year.
Florida’s current three-legged electric chair, nicknamed “Old Sparky,” was built of oak by Florida Department of Corrections staff and installed at Florida State Prison in Raiford in 1999.
Legislation passed in 2000 allows for lethal injection as an alternative to the electric chair.
Contributing: Tomas Rodriguez, Fort Myers News-Press
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Wade Wilson: Florida man killed 2 women, jury voted for death. What now
