The Wade Wilson case is not over. More than two years after he was sentenced to death for the 2019 murders of Kristine Melton and Diane Ruiz, his mandatory appeal remains active before the Florida Supreme Court under case number SC2024-1345. The court’s official docket still lists the matter as open.

Wilson’s appellate team has raised seven separate issues challenging aspects of his convictions and death sentences. The most prominent argument focuses on Florida’s 2023 death-penalty law, which allows juries to recommend death without a unanimous vote. Wilson’s attorneys argue that applying that law to crimes committed in 2019 raises constitutional concerns because the legal standard changed after the murders occurred.

The Florida Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Wilson’s appeal on February 5, 2026. His lawyer acknowledged that the court had already considered similar constitutional arguments in other death-penalty cases, but preserved the issues for possible further review.

Another development came in May, when the court approved the withdrawal of one of Wilson’s co-counsel. That procedural change did not end the appeal, and the official docket continues to show the case as pending.

The appeal does not mean Wilson has been cleared, granted a new trial or removed from death row. His convictions and sentences remain in effect while the court reviews the legal challenges. Any claim that his sentence has already been overturned would therefore be premature based on the current public record.

At the center of the case remain Melton and Ruiz, whose deaths led to Wilson’s 2024 convictions and two death sentences. The appellate process now focuses on whether the trial and sentencing complied with Florida and federal constitutional requirements rather than retrying the underlying facts from the beginning.