On June 25, the jury got here again after about 90 minutes voting 9-to-3 in favor of demise as punishment for killing Melton and 10-to-2 for Ruiz, agreeing in each circumstances that the offense was, per Florida legislation’s definition of aggravating elements, “heinous, atrocious or cruel.” (In 2023, Florida joined Alabama as the solely states the place juries do not need to be unanimous to suggest demise; the vote should be a minimum of eight in favor.) 

In Ruiz’s case, per the elements, they moreover discovered her homicide to be “cold, calculated and premeditated.”

On Aug. 15, Lee County Circuit Judge Nicholas R. Thompson denied the protection’s movement, filed July 3, for a brand new trial.

At Wilson’s Aug. 27 sentencing listening to, Shirley learn a letter from his shopper’s adoptive dad and mom, Steve and Cindy Wilson, wherein they apologized to the victims’ households and maintained that their son’s drug habit 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.”