Condemned: The Judgment of Wade Wilson | True Crime Stories

Introduction [Music] well Mr Wilson you have an opportunity just like during any of the other phases of 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 the court if you don't want to so it is a 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 Timeline of Events in October 2019 the case of Wade Wilson rattled Florida with a series of gruesome crimes that revealed it deeply troubled individual known for his violent tendencies Wilson escalated to a new level of brutality when he murdered two women Christine Melton and Diane Ruiz a third potential victim had managed to escape his grasp just hours ear earlier while a fourth and fifth narrowly avoided harm by being absent when Wilson broke into their home Wilson spree began after a night out with his girlfriend which ended with him stealing her car and abandoning her when Wilson later confronted her his anger exploded into a violent attack in a public setting the fort Meers police responded to the battery call and an officer found Wilson sitting in a black Nissan Sentra in a restaurant parking lot following protocol the officer called for backup to enure a tactical Advantage however before additional units arrived Wilson fled the [Applause] scene copy I'm 1012 H I'll explain to you when my partner gets here okay yeah H about this morning h can can you call my girlfriend your H call yourfriend say again can I call my girlfriend on yeah I can do that but I'm just waiting for my partner to get here yeah absolutely and here's what's going to happen is the car running shut the car off for me it's off um I'm going to detain you until I figure out what exactly is going on I'm sping on my girlfriend here told you I don't want to be harassed wait you don't have any trouble for me because you're on probation okay okay yeah that's what I'm saying so I'm going to have you step out of the car and I'm going to detain you not arrest detain you right now okay and I I can't have any problems you understand me all right what's that [Music] [Applause] bike five I'm at Joe's Crab Shack in the parking lot I will I give you my word no I have to detain You by our by our procedures I have to detain you H because of the battery this morning there wasn't any battery okay please H I will no just relax give me the let me see the keys to the car let me see the keys to the car be good I promise keys keys wait we're not going to have any problems just give me the keys to the car I didn't waade sir I didn't do anything [Applause] look all right just wait till my uh partner gets [Applause] here l41 going to need a couple more units don't go anywhere hey authorities were unaware that Wilson had murdered two women hours earlier not long after Christine Melton was found dead under suspicious circumstances and Wilson was spotted driving her car as the police intensified their search for him Diane Ruiz disappeared as well her body later discovered in a field marking Wilson as a highly dangerous fugitive while on the Run Wilson sought help from an acquaintance where he confess to multiple murders the acquaintance called 911 and his action as well as location information provided by Wilson's biological father enabled law enforcement to track and apprehend him Wilson's trial proved to be complex during his time in custody he added hate symbols to his face his defense team argued that these tattoos could unfairly influen the jury and requested that makeup be used to cover them during the trial despite these legal Maneuvers the jury ultimately found Wilson guilty of both murders and recommended capital punishment it would be up to the judge judge to affirm or deny the jury's recommendation at Wilson's sentencing on August 27th a statement from his adoptive parents was read to the Letter from Adoptive Parents court uh judge this is a letter from the adoptive parents of Mr Wilson it's been 5 years since the worst of this began you can't possibly understand how sorry we are for the families affected by this tragedy we cannot change the past but we wish we could on that faithful day 5 years ago not only were the lives and the dreams of two women lost with their families left behind in shock and grief but another family was left shocked and grieved over a different kind of loss it's easy to recognize the victims and their families and to feel profound sympathy for all they suffered and lost one group that isn't often recognized as those also suffering is the family of the accused our journey of Lost didn't happen all in one day as theirs did but it was heartbreaking nonetheless Wade was a joyful child loved his parents and sisters and was loved immensely in return but over the teen years and then especially in the early years of adulthood way Wade began to slip away from us becoming withdrawn erratic and depressed at first then his addiction was added to mental illness he became frankly paranoid and delusional and the sense of loss became increasingly sharp he was in the system for years trying to get help for his mental anguish and for his addiction they put a tiny Band-Aid on it and then sent him back into the world without a diagnosis medication and without follow-up care we tried to hold the pieces together but had no idea how to find the support Wade needed to be the person he was inside the system failed him in that faithful day in 2019 we lost the last p of the son we loved and all the hopes for his future in those tragic moments when the cancer of severe mental illness and addiction one we lost our son grandson brother nephew and Uncle so we understand the despair anguish loss and hatred for someone or something that takes away someone you love because despite everything we to steal our son and we love him the hopes and dreams of his life are already lost but the human is still in there somewhere tortured beyond what most of us can even begin to imagine taking his life will not bring back those two beautiful women there is no justice on Earth for that kind of loss taking another life only adds to the tragedy please see it in your heart not to kill our son and make our innocent family suffer even more the system designed to help those who suffer and are lost failed him that system is broken and would be only further broken if it took Wade's last breath that broken system owes Christine and it owes Diane and it owes their families and it owes our family it owes us all the peace that it did not provide to Wade candy and Steve Wilson thank you we would rest well Mr Wilson you have an opportunity just like during any of the other phases of 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 a 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 great thank you the state calls Dr Thomas coin with all statements made it was the Judge Thompson Decides Sentence judge's turn to render his decision all right let the record reflect that State's president defense counsel and the defendant are all present we're here for sentencing was there anything else that the court needed to address prior to sentencing no no all right the defendant committed the murders while on probation for prior felony convictions and he committed two first-degree murders contemporaneously with each other and with Grand Theft of Motor Vehicle battery and burglary of a dwelling there were no statutory mitigating circumstances that were established but the court considered the non-statutory mitigating circumstances presented by the defendant out of 13 enumerated non-statutory mitigating factors the court found that 10 had been established out of those established six were given little weight the totality of the mitigating circumstances indicates that the defendant suffers from drug use from a young age along with undiagnosed and untreated mental health issues of some kind he felt abandoned by his biological parents but had a devoted adoptive family who raised him in a supportive and loving environment defendant did not resist law enforcement when arrested and confessed fully to both murders the court has further considered the giv 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 for the murder of Christine Melton and a vote of 10-2 on count 4 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 murder accordingly it is ordered in the judge that the defendant Wade stepen Wilson be sentenced as follows count one first agree murder of Christine Melton the defendant is hereby sentenced to death count two Grant Theft of a motor vehicle the defendant is sentenced to 5 years imprisonment in the Florida Department of Corrections count three battery the defendant is hereby sentenced to 364 days in Lee County Jail count for first scree murder of Diane Ruiz the def defendant is hereby sentenced to death count five the burglary of a dwelling defendant is hereby sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in the Florida dep departmental 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 are 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 the defendant is hereby notified that these convictions and sentences are subject to automatic review by the Florida Supreme Court if he cannot afford an attorney to represent him in that any appeal the court will appoint one for him there any other matters to present to the road to final Justice for Wade Wilson may still be long Florida's death row currently holds 278 inmates with some like one prisoner who's been on the list since 1976 waiting for decades on average those condemned to death in Florida spend over 20 years on death row before execution often due to appeals postconviction motions and other legal procedures that aim to ensure due process recent executions have involved inmates who waited upwards of 30 years for their sentences to be carried out nevertheless this chapter offers some sense of closure for the families of Diane Ruiz and Christine Melton e