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.”
Red Carpet
