The Face-Tatted Florida Killer Who Earned the Death Penalty: Wade Wilson

the totality of the circumstances warrants that the defendant Wade Steven Wilson be sentenced to death for reach count first gree murder it's official convicted murderer Wade Wilson is sentenced to death for two gruesome murders he committed back in 2019 and here's what he's got to say for it well Mr Wilson you have an opportunity just like during any of the other phases of let me just finish real quick you heard that right Wade Wilson interrupted the judge of his case during his sentence hearing but he did have to listen as prosecutors explained why he deserved death the heinousness of both murders Wilson's decisions were not only P pies and Consciousness but uh they amounted to tragically reducing Miss Melton as well as Miss Ruiz to nothing more than memories and photographs the state would respectfully request this court to recommend and impose the sentence of death upon Mr Wilson because not only is it deserved but it's earned but Wilson's defense wasn't silent in all this they tried to highlight some mitigating factors basically saying that Wilson had traumatic brain injuries and that should mean death was taken off the table either sentence is a terrible sentence the sentence of death um is worse in that if there is a mistake along the way and we can't correct that mistake we can't correct the sentence after uh it's imposed so let's Jump Right In to hear the arguments from both sides and what we can expect ahead for Wilson the Wade Wilson trial was a major one here on law crime it happened back in June and that's kind of when Wilson exploded on Tik Tok his face is all over videos there and honestly it's a pretty memorable one but so too are the crimes he's now convicted of I'll let prosecutors explain this part let's start with a capital felony was a homicide that was committed in cold calculated and a premeditated manner without any pre pretense of moral or legal justification you already found Beyond a reasonable doubt that the murders were premeditated through your verdict you found two counts of first-degree premeditated murder you must now find that that Premed meditation was heightened demonstrated by a substantial period of reflection in order to do that I think it's important to start at the beginning of this case where it all happened off McGregor Boulevard near College Parkway at the Buddha Lounge music was playing people were socializing the defendant went there to have a good time and he discarded the woman he came with and he chose one that caught his eye Christine mountain and as he told detectives this is what I do with women you know I use my charm I use my good looks that's what I did with the first girl and that's how I got in her head and look what happened to her when the defendant first approaches Christine he's not threatening he's smooth he's Charming he's nice to her and her friend Stephanie they party together no red flag no sign of aggression he's a fun guy but he waits he waits until he's back at her house in her bed and Stephanie has gone home he waits until as he is alone with her until there are no other Witnesses he waits until she is asleep defenseless the defendant says she can't get away from him even if she wanted to because he's St too strong and when she can't get away is when he kills her when he strangles her because he was the lion and she was the prey as prosecutors explained Wilson met 35-year-old Christine Melton at a bar with live music in Fort Meers Florida on October 6th 2019 and then as prosecutors described he strangled her to death after she took him back to her Cape Coral home here's how Wilson's biological father explained it did he end up calling you later that evening yes ma'am and uh what did he tell you in that call that evening the final call nope the call and the call before the final call he just told me you know he did something there was two people going that would not be back he he said I'm a killer um you know I just told him to call me back I just thought it was another story you know so so at this point when he says that um there were two people that wouldn't be with us and that uh he was a killer did you put a lot of weight into that no ma'am do you think he was just telling you a story he's a good Storyteller he just said he met a girl at a bar they went back to her house hung out for a little bit and then she fell asleep what did he say happened after she fell asleep he said he got on top of her and choked her what name did he call her did he did he refer to in a derory term oh he said I I choked that and here's Wilson's account of what happened in a jailhouse call made to his ex-girlfriend well tell me what happened then I deser Ked why Wade why because we went to this dude's house n and remember when he kept showing us the pictures oh I got this i got this get this or whatever so I went to his house and I did did a lot of it like he was giving me a lot a lot a lot a lot a lot and I was doing a lot of the girl huh why did you kill that girl I shouldn't have I'm wrong tell me tell me what happened did you have sex with her you went killed her what no I didn't have sex with her I went I killed her though that phone call was between Wilson and his ex-girlfriend milela and according to prosecutors after he killed Christine Melton he stole her car and then went to see mil at that point they got into an argument and Wilson physically attacked milela you'll hear about that later it's his battery charge in this case Mila was able to escape so Wilson then took off in Melton's car and that's when he found his second victim 43-year-old Diane Ruiz she was walking down the street on the way to work when Wilson pulled over and pretended to ask for directions Ruiz hopped into the car and here's what Wilson says happened next yeah but did you kill the second girl at that point um no I think I killed her later you think yeah I'm pretty sure I did I killed her after like things that people remember when they kill somebody um I killed her after I saw you why why could you just Rob her why did you have to kill her I'm sorry I don't know why I I kind of want to know why what was going through your head youing her I heard that you choked her out she didn't die she got up ran you ran her over with the car is that how it gled um that is yeah it is she didn't she didn't get up and run she didn't get up and run that's not true um I choked her out pushed her out of the car and then I ran her over with the car how did you get her in the car she got in by herself so she got in the car by herself yeah and took her out in the car uh-huh yeah out of the car and thenan over yeah like 10 times he yourself yes I do I hear myself does sound like something that that you want to be saying out loud can you believe that you've done this no I can't I really can't I was on drugs dude I really can't believe it so here's how Wilson's defense argued all this he's got a diseased mind we can't relate to that it's hard for us to know what's going through his head when he's talking to law enforcement you can see where this is going here's what the jury came back with as to count one first deegree murder Christine Milton we the jury unanimously find that the state has established Beyond a reasonable doubt that the first degree murder was especially heinous atrocious or cruel yes we the jury unanimously find that the state has established Beyond a reasonable doubt that the first degree m murder was committed in a cold calculated and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification we the jury find by a vote of 9 to3 that Wade Wilson should be sentenced to death as to count for first-degree murder Diane Ruiz we the jury unanimously find that the state has established Beyond a reasonable doubt that the first deegree murder was especially hus atrocious or cruel yes we the jury find by a vote of 10 to two that Wade Wilson should be sentenced to death so the jury recommended death for Wilson on both counts but the official sentence wasn't handed down right away instead Wilson's defense had several months to come up with mitigating factors reasons why their client shouldn't receive the death penalty this would then be presented to judge Nicholas Thompson and he would make the final decision this sentencing hearing was first scheduled for July but then pushed back and just last week Wilson's team had him sent out for brain scans like an MRI because experts said there are signs he had traumatic brain injury so that leads us to August 27th the day of Wilson sentencing before the judge's ruling was officially made there was a Spencer hearing meaning both sides could present mitigating or aggravating factors in Wilson's case we begin with the defense and their expert witness Dr Mark Rubino there are two basic conclusions one with the ventricular asymmetry ventricular symmetry can be a normal finding but in the setting of psychiatric disease it indicates cognitive and and uh emotional dysfunction how does that manifest itself in somebody's conduct it's going to cause Morse Behavior it's going to cause uh less thinking is going to cause less or less likely to modify your own behavior basically what was the re what was the other one you said there were two uh evidence of some brain injury the atrophy of his uh Superior Anor temporal loes as well as frontal loes is a important combination when you have atrophy of your amydala which is one of your main points of your limic system it creates for emotional instability it makes you more likely to get mad and not be able to calm yourself down the frontal Lo impairments cause one to be more likely to be impulsive and act without regard to consequence Act without plan um more likely to be irritated and agitated and the frontal is also important for stopping Behavior arising out of your temporal Lo that you had the opportunity to review from that were taken on August 21st of 2024 isn't that right that's correct all right matter of fact the MRI scans also revealed that there was a unremarkable conventional brain MRI examined without contrast do you agree with that assessment sir from a met from a perspective of major disease uh stroke Ms anything you look at yeah it looks normal M of fact the findings in the MRI scans were that the ventricles are normal in size and position without evidence for hydrophilus there is no hydris in fact the ventricles are relatively small indicating that he may have increased inter interal pressure and then we also find that the fourth ventricle is midline and no shift is noted right yeah that's brain stem that's fine medical speak aside Dr Rabino says the damage to Wilson's brain could make him have tumultuous relationships and in the this next clip he gets a little sassy about it these findings are likely predating 2019 probably sometime after he was a teenager well if they're predating 2019 you would expect some kind of symptoms to be present at that point in time would you not impulsiveness agitation how do I know that's not there I would say that it's likely that he had those things then really well you didn't bother to go ahead and speak to Mr lukic or Miss Stephanie Johnson who had contact with him you didn't have contact with Miss Melissa monz who could tell you a little bit more about her contact with Mr uh Wilson did you sir I did not know them how am I supposed to contact them now let's move on to the prosecution side of things where another medical expert was called to testify and shockingly this doctor a forensic pathologist disagreed with what the defense said and so based on that do you believe there's anything significant about no and I'll tell you further why right so if if you had asymmetry in the ventricles or let's say for instance he also described that there was uh an abnormality in the size of the ventricles that they were actually more narrow or smaller they're not this is actually appropriate in size and he suggested that that because of that there's probably due to increased intracranial pressure but that doesn't happen in isolation increased intracranial pressure is going to cause fluid from the ventricles as well as fluid from the vascular space to spill out into the actual brain tissue and that's going to cause abnormalities in the CSF pattern as well as it's going to cause hyperintensities around vessels you see none of that here in this actual scan whatsoever not to mention increased intracranial pressure is going to push the brain pranama out the brain is trapped in the skull has nowhere to go so if you increase pressure inside that skull the brain is going to be pushed outward and downward and you see no evidence of that at all here you don't see any evidence you see the normal salsation right here or the normal folds of the brain you have no evidence of that increased intracranial pressure more importantly like I said there's no over evidence of abnormality in ventricle size and that matches what the radiologist saw on both the CAT scan and the MRI this next part is the prosecution's mic drop I I would call this a structurally normal adult brain uh and I wouldn't be concerned about anything um significant to chase after here's where we hear from Wilson for the first time and pay close attention he starts speaking earlier than you'd expect well Mr Wilson you have an opportunity just like during any of the other phases of oh let me just finish real quick any other phases during the case uh if you want to address the court uh I would permit you to do that obviously you know everything's recorded uh but uh you would have that opportunity if you wish no one can prevent you from addressing the court if you wish to and uh no one can make you address the court if you don't want to so it is an decision that's solely left up to you if you want to address the court or not not today later when I come back I will today no I won't okay thank you inching closer to that official sentence now with final arguments from both sides the defense went first and as you can expect ask the judge to reconsider the death sentence we'd ask that the court consider the um three statutory mitigators the capacity of the defendant to appreciate the criminal nature of the conduct or to conform that conduct to the requirements of the law was substantially impaired obviously you've heard testimony that he consumed uh quantity of Controlled Substances he described it to the officers said it basically made him almost insane Defender requires specialized treatment for mental disorder that is unrelated to substance abuse or addiction or for a physical dis ability and the defendant is amable to treatment we don't know what kind of treatment that's going to be on death row we know that he needs treatment there's testimony to the fact that he's been on treatment he's been on the same treatment throughout his stay in the Department Corrections and in the Lee County jail he needs that medication he needs that treatment defendant cooperated with the state to resolve the current offense or any other offenses I'm sure the court recalls that Mr Wilson provided a statement to law enforcement at the time he provided the statement he was not aware that they had located the second victim he was doing that in an effort to assist the victim's family um they had already located the second victim but he didn't know that he provided them with details that but for his statement they would never have known we have non-statutory mitigating circumstances defendant was born to drug addicted teenage parents mom's biological uh the defendant's biological mother suffered mental illness defendant's mental illness presented at age 12 and was precipitated by puberty and substance abuse defendant was diagnosed bipolar disorder and um I call it schizophrenia it's a little bit different diagnosis defended is loved by his adopted parents candy and Steve Wilson who has provided a statement to the court defended his love by his sister which was reflected in the statement read to the jury defendant was profoundly affected by being abandoned by his biological parents he's been a loving son to his adop adoptive parents as reflected in the statement read earlier today I remind the court that the jury's recommendation was 93 for one victim and 102 for the other under their previous statute um that would have required this court sentence my client to life we'd ask the court to take into consideration that death is Perman death is different and we're asking the court to impose two life sentences for Mr Wilson that last statement from the defense perfectly teed up the prosecution for this like to point out and I agree with defense Council that death is in fact permanent Christine Melton was 35 years old Diane Ruiz was 43 years old both of their deaths were permanent back in June when this court heard the facts and circumstances of this particular case surrounding the deaths of Miss Melton and Miss Ruiz this court should have learned that this case was nothing more more than power control and violence that led to murder Mr Wilson's decisions were not only P pies and Consciousness but uh they amounted to tragically reducing Miss Melton as well as Miss Ruiz to nothing more than memories and photographs to not only their families but also to their friends the only reason why that happened was because they both encountered Mr Wilson Wilson went ahead and placed his hands around the necks of both of these women and allowed their lives to slip through his fingers when both of them knew they were going to die the jury found that particular Factor judge unanimously as to both Miss Melton and Miss Ruiz that it was heinous atrocious and cruel he overpowered them he controlled them he silenced them by placing his hands around their neck judge we submit to you that factor should be given extremely great weight and lastly judge the aggravating factor of it being cold calculated and premeditated the jury found Beyond and to the exclusion of every Reasonable Doubt unanimously that this aggravating Factor applied to miss Diane Ruiz and as such judge the state would would respectfully request this court to recommend and impose the sense of death upon Mr Wilson because not only is it deserved but it's earned after considering all the factors here's what the judge had to say in the State of Florida versus Steven Wade Wilson the court has further considered the given in giving great weight to The Advisory verdict of the jury which who recommended that the death penalty be imposed by a vote of 9 to3 on count one one for the murder of Christine Melton and a vote of 10 to two on count four for the murder of Diane Ruiz the court recognizes that there is no mathematical formula for considering the aggravating and mitigating factors it is not enough to weigh the number of aggravators against the number of mitigators the Court carefully considered the nature and quality of each aggravator and mitigator having reviewed all of the aggravating factors proven Beyond A Reasonable Doubt and all of the mitigating circumstances reasonably established by the evidence the court finds that the aggravating factors greatly outweigh mitigating circumstances given the facts of the case nothing in defendant background or mental state would suggest that it that a death sentence is inappropriate this Court's review of other reported Capital cases has led the court to conclude that the death penalty is not disproportionate in this case under the totality of the circumstances in evidence the court finds no basis to override the jury's verdict the totality of the circumstances warrants that the defendant Wade Steven Wilson be sentenced to death for each count first gree murder accordingly it is ordered in the judge that the defendant Wade stepen Wilson be sentenced as follows count one first degree murder of Christine Melton the defendant is hereby sentenced to death count two grand theft of a motor vehicle the defendant is sentenced to 5 years imprisonment in the Florida Department of Corrections count battery the defendant is hereby sentenced to 364 days in Lee County Jail count for firste murder of Diane Ruiz the defendant is hereby sentenced to death count five the burglary of a dwelling defendant is hereby sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in the Florida Department of Corrections count six petty theft the defendant is hereby sentenced to 364 days in Lee County Jail the defendant is given credit for all time served on this case on all counts all counts to run concurrent with each other meaning at the same time all statutorily mandated fines fees and cost as announced on the record or imposed and the defendants committed to the custody of the Department of Corrections for execution of this sentence as provided by law and here's the reaction after Wilson's sentence was handed down we saw Justice served for victims Christine Melton and Diane Ruiz as defendant Wade Wilson was sentenced to death death for the horrendous atrocious and cruel crimes that he committed he was sentenced by The Honorable Nick Thompson and this was the appropriate sentence for this evil monster the defendant in this case will now sit on Florida's death row as he awaits the death penalty he will pay the ultimate price the highest penalty We Carry in Florida because of the heinous atrocious and cruel things he did to these two victims the decision by my office to seek the death penalty in this case the recommendation of death by the jury and the sentencing of the defendant to death today is a reflection of the severity of the crimes committed and the irreversible harm inflicted upon innocent lives for now Wade Wilson is still being held at the Lee County Jail in Fort Meers Florida he still got a few more charges that need to be resolved including a failed escape attempt after all that is taken care of he'll eventually be transferred to Union Correctional Institution where all Florida death row inmates are held reporting for long crime I'm Sierra Gillespie