On June 25, the jury came back after about 90 minutes voting 9-to-3 in favor of death as punishment for killing Melton and 10-to-2 for Ruiz, agreeing in both cases that the offense was, per Florida law’s definition of aggravating factors, “heinous, atrocious or cruel.” (In 2023, Florida joined Alabama as the only states where juries don’t have to be unanimous to recommend death; the vote must be at least eight in favor.)
In Ruiz’s case, per the factors, they additionally found her murder to be “cold, calculated and premeditated.”
On Aug. 15, Lee County Circuit Judge Nicholas R. Thompson denied the defense’s motion, filed July 3, for a new trial.
At Wilson’s Aug. 27 sentencing hearing, Shirley read a letter from his client’s adoptive parents, Steve and Cindy Wilson, in which they apologized to the victims’ families and maintained that their son’s drug addiction made him delusional, per the News-Press.
“Wade was a joyful child,” they wrote. “Loved his parents.” But, they continued, “The system failed him on that fateful day in 2019. Please see it in your heart to not take our son.”
