A Florida judge will consider letters, including one from a woman he was in a relationship with, as he decides whether to sentence a man with a swastika and a smiling skeleton tattoo on his face to death after being convicted of brutally killing two women hours apart.
Letters are beginning to arrive to Lee County Circuit Judge Nicholas R. Thompson pleading with the jury that sentenced Wade Wilson, 30, to death for the October 2019 murders of Cape Coral women Christine Melton, 35, and Diane Lewis, 43, not to punish him.
“As someone who cares unconditionally for Wade, I have thought deeply about the gravity of this situation and the impact of your decision,” the heartbroken woman from Visalia, California, wrote to the judge. According to WINK.
Court records show people have written to Thompson from as far away as Canada and California, urging him to sentence Wilson to life in prison instead of the death penalty, the outlet reported.
Another wrote a letter asking the judge to “impose a light sentence that reflects the potential for recovery and rehabilitation,” while a third wrote a letter expressing concern about Wilson’s mental state and the difference between his condition while undergoing drug treatment.
“Looking at his facial structure beyond the tattoos, he appears healthier since being incarcerated and taking medication, and his face is fuller than in his arrest photographs, where his face appeared haggard, pale and unhealthy,” the Canadian mother of two wrote to the judge.
According to the media, the Code of Judicial Conduct prohibits judges from reviewing communications made to them without the relevant parties being present.
Wilson was convicted last month by a Florida jury of two counts of first-degree premeditated murder in the deaths of Melton and Lewis.
Wilson allegedly took Melton from a bar to his home on October 7, 2019, where he strangled her, tied her up and left her there.
Lewis was reported missing there a few hours later, and Wilson later told his father that she had gotten into his car after he asked her for directions.
He then admitted strangling her and throwing her from the car, before getting back in and running her over “until she was like spaghetti”, jurors were told.
“I choked her until she couldn’t breathe,” Wilson told police about one of the murders. “I set out to kill her. Just kill, kill, kill.”
“This case was murder for the sake of murder,” Assistant State’s Attorney Andreas Gardiner said in court. “Strangulation is the epitome of life slipping out of one’s hands.”
Wilson was also convicted of burglary, burglary, assault and petty theft. Though he was allowed to cover up his tattoos, change his hairstyle and wear a new suit to look better for the jury, his tattoos were still clearly visible on his face.
Wilson is scheduled to be sentenced on July 23rd.
