The so-called ‘Deadpool killer’ who brutally murdered two women in 2019 appeared stoic in court as he learned his fate on Tuesday.
Wade Wilson, 30, who shares a name with the Marvel mercenary, showed no emotion as Florida County Circuit Judge Nicholas R Thompson ruled that he would face two death sentences – one for each murder of Kristine Melton, 35, and Diane Ruiz, 43.
Others in the courtroom, however, cheered and clapped as the ruling was handed down.
‘Bye Wade,’ one woman said as he was escorted out of the court room by five police officers. ‘Forever,’ a man sitting next to her added, according to Newsweek.
Wilson was previously convicted in June of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree meditated murder in the deaths of the two women, whom he strangled within hours of each other on October 6, 2019 in Cape Coral.
A jury voted in favor of the death penalty 9 – 3 in Melton’s case and 10 – 2 in Ruiz’s murder. Under Florida law, only eight out of 12 jurors need to recommend a death penalty for it to be considered by a judge.
The jury found that the crimes involved aggravating factors, including that the crimes were especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, committed by a person convicted of another capital felony, involving the use of threat of violence to the person, and committed by a person previously convicted of another capital felony and under the sentence of imprisonment or placed on community control or on felony probation, the Independent reports.
Prosecutors have said Wilson began his murder spree on the afternoon of October 6, 2019, when he met Melton at a live music bar and went home with her.
Wilson strangled her to death inside her home in Cape Coral, Florida the next day, where her body was found inside.
The same day, Ruiz was reported missing after she was seen being asked for directions by Wilson while on her walk to work.
He was driving a car he stole from Melton’s home after he murdered her, which Ruiz got into before she was also strangled to death.
In testimony from Wilson’s father, it was said that he went onto ‘run her over until she looked like spaghetti.’ Ruiz’s body was found three days later in a field behind a Sam’s Club.
The 30-year-old killer also drove to Fort Myers in Melton’s car and attacked Melissa Montanez, his ex-girlfriend.
Video shown in court in June showed the moment he was stopped by police after they’d received a call from Montanez, who claimed he attacked her at the spa she runs and stole her car.
In the clip, Wilson is found without a shirt on in Montanez’s car outside a local restaurant and tells an office that he was waiting there for her. He asks why he’s being stopped.
Eventually, the officer tells him was going to be arrested ‘because of the battery this morning’. Wilson denies that he attacked Montanez.
The officer asks Wilson to turn off the car and turn over the keys and tells him to stay in the vehicle until they can obtain backup. Wilson simply restarts the car and drives away.
The officer can be heard saying: ‘Don’t go anywhere, don’t do it’.
Wilson was finally arrested on October 8, and remained behind bars without bail prior to his murder conviction.
He has since added a number of tattoos to his face includes several swatikas, menacing Joker-like mouth tattoos, and a neck tattoo reading: ‘Bred for war.’
Throughout the trial, Wilson’s attorneys have tried to argued he was impaired by drugs.
His adoptive parents submitted letters saying he was a ‘joyful child’ who ‘loved his parents,’ and claimed that he became delusional after his drug addiction began, the Independent reports.
An expert witness had also claimed that Wilson took drugs the night before the murder, and a number of lovesick women argued in their own letters to the judge that the drugs may have affected his behavior as they pleaded for him to receive a lenient sentence.
‘As someone who cares unconditionally for Wade, I have deeply reflected on the gravity of the situation and impact of your decision,’ one woman from Visalia, California wrote, according to WINK.
Another woman from Canada told the judge she’s noticed that Wilson looks ‘healthier’ in prison.
‘If you look past his tattoos to his face structure since being in prison and medicated he is healthier, his face is fuller compared to his booking picture where his face is gaunt, pale and he looks unhealthy,’ the mother-of-two said.
A woman also asked the judge to ‘impose a lighter sentence that reflects the possibility of recovery and rehabilitation.’
In court on Tuesday, the defense once again tried to point to Wilson’s drug addiction for his behavior that night as they asked the judge to instead sentence the murderer to two life sentences.
‘We’d ask the court to take into consideration that death is permanent,’ attorney Lee Hollander told the judge.
He called upon Dr Mark Rubino, a neurologist, who said he found evidence of cognitive and emotional dysfunction, causing worsening behavior and less critical thinking, in addition to brain injury.
Rubino said he thought those injuries the drugs Wilson was on the night of the murders likely resulted in the two women’s deaths.
But another expert witness, Dr. Thomas Coyne, a neuropathologist and associate medical examiner, stated that he did not find any damage to Wilson’s skull or brain.
In the end, the judge agreed, saying: ‘Given the facts of the case, nothing in defendant’s background or mental state would suggest that a death sentence is inappropriate.’
The families of Melton and Ruiz celebrated the verdict.
They vowed they would see him at execution, with Melton’s cousin Samantha saying at a news conference, ‘This will not be the last that Wade Wilson sees of us in a courtroom.’
Ruiz’s father also said he plans to be there when Wilson is on death row, growing emotional as he recounted how he ‘didn’t get to say I love her’ to her daughter before her untimely death.
Meanwhile, prosecutors stated that Wilson will now be just a number in the Florida Department of Corrections, awaiting death.
‘He is no idol,’ they said.