Newly reviewed Florida Supreme Court records are bringing fresh attention to Wade Wilson’s death-penalty case — but the most important development is not new crime-scene evidence.

It is what is happening inside his appeal.

The Florida Supreme Court’s official docket still lists Wade Steven Wilson v. State of Florida, SC2024-1345, as an OPEN case, meaning the mandatory review of his convictions and death sentences remains part of an active appellate proceeding.

Wilson was convicted in 2024 of murdering Kristine Melton and Diane Ruiz in Lee County, Florida. Because he received death sentences, his case automatically went before Florida’s highest court.

But the appeal has raised a question that reaches beyond Wilson himself.

Can Florida apply its newer non-unanimous death-penalty law to crimes committed years before that law existed?

Wilson’s murders occurred in 2019.

At that time, Florida required a unanimous jury recommendation before a defendant could receive a death sentence. The law later changed, allowing a recommendation for death with at least an 8–4 jury vote.

Wilson’s appellate lawyers argue that applying that newer standard to his older crimes raises constitutional and retroactivity issues.

His appeal reportedly raises seven separate issues seeking reversal of his death sentences, and the Florida Supreme Court heard oral arguments on February 5, 2026.

That hearing produced one particularly important clue about where the legal battle could go next.

Wilson’s appellate attorney acknowledged that Florida’s Supreme Court had already addressed similar constitutional arguments in other death-penalty cases.