⚖️ 9–3. 10–2. THEN CAME TWO DEATH SENTENCES.

Wade Wilson was convicted of murdering two women in Florida.

But the most controversial part of his case came after the guilty verdicts.

When the jury considered the death penalty, the votes were not unanimous.

For one murder, jurors voted 9–3 in favor of death.

For the other, the vote was 10–2.

And yet, Wilson was ultimately sentenced to death for both killings.

So how could a death sentence be imposed when two or three jurors disagreed?

The answer lies in a major change to Florida’s capital-punishment law.

Before 2023, Florida generally required a unanimous jury recommendation for a death sentence. But a law signed in 2023 changed that standard, allowing a death recommendation when at least 8 of 12 jurors vote for death.

Wilson’s jury therefore cleared the required threshold in both cases.

But that did not end the legal fight.

His defense later challenged the application of the newer law to his case, arguing that the murders occurred in 2019, before the law was changed.

That created a different question:

Could Florida apply the newer, less restrictive death-penalty procedure to a case involving crimes committed years earlier?

That issue became part of Wilson’s appeals.

In December 2025, the Florida Supreme Court upheld the state’s 2023 non-unanimous jury law in cases involving other death-row prisoners, confirming that Florida could impose death sentences based on an 8–4 or greater jury recommendation under the statute.

Wilson’s legal team continued challenging the application of that law to his own case.

By February 2026, the fight had reached the Florida Supreme Court, with his attorneys arguing that the 2023 law should not have been applied retroactively to the 2019 murders.

That means the numbers 9–3 and 10–2 are more than just courtroom statistics.

They became the center of a much bigger legal question surrounding Wilson’s two death sentences.

How did a law passed years after the murders become part of the case?

And after the Florida Supreme Court’s later ruling on the 2023 law, what happens next for Wade Wilson on death row?