In August, 2024, Wade Wilson became one of the first few people convicted and sentenced to death under Florida's new(2023) death penalty legislation for the 2019 murders of Kristine Melton and Diane Ruiz.

On May 2, 2025, Wade Wilson's new appellate counsel filed their initial brief in his direct appeal with the Supreme Court of Florida. In it they raise several claims as to why Wade's death sentences should be reversed, including:

• Florida's application of their 2023 version of the Florida Statute that eliminated their jury unanimity requirement violated the Ex Post Facto clauses of the US and Florida constitutions and Florida statutory law. The crime Wade is convicted of occurred in 2019, meaning Florida retroactively applied new jury standards. Had they applied the law as it was written in 2019, he would have not received 2 death sentences.
• Florida's capital sentencing scheme does not satisfy Eighth Amendment standards due to the elimination of the unanimity requirement, elimination of proportionality review, and increase over time of the number and scope of aggravation factors. This system does not contain "sufficient safeguards against arbitrary and inconsistent capital sentencing".

In a highly publicized trial, Wade Wilson was convicted of the brutal murders of Kristine Melton and Diane Ruiz in June and sentenced to death in August of 2024. Neither of the jury's decisions were unanimous. In fact, only 9 of the 12 jurors recommended death for the first murder, and 10 of the 12 for the second murder. In no other state would such non-unanimity be acceptable and result in a death sentence.

While states around the country appear to be on a downward trend in their use of the death penalty and are increasingly abandoning the practice altogether, Florida went against that trend and, instead, expanded their death penalty in 2023 and again in 2025. Governor DeSantis has signed multiple pieces of legislation, one that challenges more than a decade and a half of precedence set by the US Supreme Court which made it unconstitutional to execute individuals convicted of child rape(Kennedy v. Louisiana 2008) - since then only cases involving murder have been death-eligible(with the exception of certain crimes against the state) - and another that made it easier for a jury to sentence someone to die by removing the unanimous jury requirement.

Now, once a jury unanimously finds at least one aggravating factor present, Florida law only requires that 8 of the 12 jurors need to recommend a death sentence for it to stand. Florida now has the single lowest threshold for issuing a death sentence anywhere in the country. Wade Wilson is one of the first people to be convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death under these new changes to Florida's death penalty scheme and the first to be handed 2 non-unanimous death sentences.

Additionally, Wade and his team have secured new appellate representation and are in the process of Wade's direct appeal. Wade's team is encouraging folks interested in supporting this effort to donate directly to the law firm that has taken up his case.

There are numerous support accounts that have popped up across the internet for Wade. To stay up-to-date with the latest information on his case, please visit the official Instagram and TikTok pages.

Florida's return to executions in 2023, after more than three years of not pursuing them, marks the state as an outlier in its use of the death penalty. The majority of other states are on a downward trend of executions. Please sign the petition urging Lee County Attorney Richard Wesch, Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida State Board of Executive Clemency to do everything within their power to seek a path to clemency in the case.