Wade Wilson death sentence would put him on death row at this Florida prison
Wade Wilson's jury voted in favor of sentencing him to death after convicting him of the 2019 murders of Kristine Melton and Diane Ruiz.
It will be up to Judge Nicholas Thompson whether to impose the death sentence during Wilson's sentencing hearing on July 23.
Once Wilson receives the death penalty and other unrelated charges are resolved, he'll leave the Lee County Jail for the state's prison system and ultimately Florida's death row.
Florida's death row is inside Union Correctional Institution in Raiford.
Union Correctional Institution: Florida death row
If Wilson is sentenced to death, he'll be housed in a cell measuring 6x9x9.5 feet high.
According to the Florida Department of Corrections, inmates on death row are allowed snacks, radios and 13” TVs, but do not have cable or air-conditioning. They wear orange T-shirts to set them apart from other inmates and the same blue pants worn by regular prisoners.
Death row inmates are served three meals a day – at 5 a.m., from 10:30 to 11 a.m. and from 4 to 4:30 p.m.. Food is prepared by prison staff and transported in insulated carts to the cells, where inmates are given sporks to eat from the provided trays.
They’re allowed showers every other day and any visitors must be preapproved. Inmates can receive mail.
Death Row inmates are counted at least hourly. They wear handcuffs everywhere except in their cells, the exercise yard and shower. They are in their cells except for medical reasons, exercise, social or legal visits or media interviews.
Once a death warrant is signed by the governor, the inmate is put in a Death Watch cell and allowed a legal and social phone call. A Death Watch cell is 12x7x8.5 feet high.
Where is Union Correctional Institution?
Union Correctional Institution is in Raiford, about 45 miles southwest of Jacksonville.
Electric chair or lethal injection? Florida execution methods
In 1923, the Legislature passed a law replacing hanging with the electric chair. An oak chair was built by prison inmates in that year.
Florida’s current three-legged electric chair, nicknamed “Old Sparky,” was built of oak by Florida Department of Corrections staff and installed at Union Correctional Institution in 1999.
Legislation passed in 2000 allows for lethal injection as an alternative to the electric chair.
Wade Wilson found guilty of Kristine Melton and Diane Ruiz murders in Cape Coral
On October 7, 2019, Wilson, then 25 years old, met Kristine Melton, 35, and her friend Stephanie Sailors at Buddah LIVE, a Fort Myers bar.
After the bar closed, Wilson and the two women went to the home of Jayson Shepard where they stayed for several hours before leaving in the morning.
Wilson, Melton and Sailors then went Melton's Cape Coral home. After Sailors left, Wilson strangled Melton to death as she slept in her bed and stole her car.
A short time later, Wilson saw 43-year-old Diane Ruiz walking along a Cape Coral street, asked her for directions and lured her into the car.
When Ruiz tried to exit the car, Wilson attacked her, beating and strangling her before pushing her out of the car and running her over repeatedly.
After the murders, Wilson called his biological father Steven Testasecca several times confessing to and narrating the crimes. Testasecca contacted police and Wilson was arrested Oct. 8, 2019.
Wade Wilson death sentence
On June 25, the jury in Wilson's trial recommended he receive the death penalty for each of the murders.
Jurors, who had the option of recommending life without parole or death, voted 9-3 and 10-2 for death.
It will be up to the judge to impose the death sentence. Sentencing is scheduled for July 23.
Contributing: Tomas Rodriguez, Fort Myers News-Press
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Union Correctional Institution: Wade Wilson could go to FL death row