WADE WILSON REMAINS ON DEATH ROW AS LEGAL BATTLE CONTINUES — NO EXECUTION DATE SET

FORT MYERS, FLORIDA — More than two years after a Florida jury convicted Wade Steven Wilson of two first-degree murders, his case remains before the courts as his mandatory appeal continues.

Wilson was sentenced to death in August 2024 for the 2019 killings of Kristine Melton, 35, and Diane Ruiz, 43, in Cape Coral, Florida.

Despite the death sentences, Wilson has not been given an execution date.

His case remains open before the Florida Supreme Court, where his attorneys are challenging aspects of the convictions and death sentences.

TWO DEATH SENTENCES

Wilson was convicted in June 2024 of two counts of first-degree murder.

During the penalty phase, jurors recommended the death penalty for both killings. The recommendations were 9-3 for Melton’s murder and 10-2 for Ruiz’s murder.

A judge subsequently imposed two separate death sentences on August 27, 2024.

The case stemmed from a deadly sequence of events in October 2019 involving the two women in the Cape Coral area.

Wilson has remained incarcerated at Union Correctional Institution in Florida while the appeals process moves forward.

APPEAL REACHES FLORIDA’S HIGHEST COURT

Wilson’s case, Wade Steven Wilson v. State of Florida, SC2024-1345, was docketed with the Florida Supreme Court in September 2024.

His direct appeal raises seven issues seeking reversal of his death sentences.

One major issue concerns Florida’s death-penalty law and the requirement for jury recommendations.

Wilson’s attorneys have argued that the law allowing a death recommendation without a unanimous jury vote should not have been applied to crimes committed in 2019, before the law was enacted.

A BRIEF BUT SIGNIFICANT COURT HEARING

The Florida Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case on February 5, 2026.

The proceeding was notably brief. Wilson’s appellate attorney addressed the court for only several minutes, focusing on the legal issues raised in the appeal rather than rearguing the underlying evidence.

As of September 2026, the court has not issued a final ruling in Wilson’s case.

That means the legal process remains active.

NO EXECUTION DATE HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED

For now, Wilson remains on Florida’s death row.

The pending appeal means his death sentences have not reached the end of the state court process, and no execution date has been set.

The case has also continued to attract public attention through documentaries and true-crime coverage, but those productions do not change the status of the court proceedings.

The next major development will come when the Florida Supreme Court issues its ruling on the pending appeal.

Until then, the two death sentences remain in place, but the case is still moving through the judicial system.

Wade Wilson remains on death row — but his legal battle is not over.