A man with a Nazi tattoo on his face has been sentenced to death for murdering two women, reports have said.
Wade Wilson, nicknamed the ‘Deadpool killer’ because he shares his name with the Marvel character played by Ryan Reynolds in the movie franchise, was sentenced on Tuesday by a court in Florida.
Wilson, who had declined to speak to the court in Lee County earlier in the afternoon, was impassive as he was sentenced while there was cheering and applause from the gallery, the Independent said.
In June, he was found guilty of killing Kristine Melton and Diane Ruiz, both from the same state, in the city of Cape Coral on 6 October 2019.
He was given the death penalty for both crimes, the New York Post (NYP) said.
Circuit Judge Nicholas Thompson told the court “the evidence shows the murders were heinous, atrocious and cruel” while the second murder [of Ms Ruiz] was “cold, calculated and premeditated”.
Jurors had recommended the death penalty and Judge Thompson said Wilson’s crimes were so awful he found “no basis” to overrule them, the NYP added.
The 30-year-old, who has a swastika tattoo on his face, killed the women “for the sake of killing”, Assistant State Attorney Andreas Gardiner told the court earlier.
Wilson first strangled Melton, 35, in her Cape Coral home, where her body was found, after they had met at a live music bar.
After stealing the dead woman’s car, he used her phone to call his girlfriend, Melissa Montanez, 41. He assaulted her, but she refused to get into the vehicle.
He then met Ms Ruiz, 43, who asked him for directions in Cape Coral and invited her into the car.
When the woman tried to get out of the vehicle, Wilson strangled her before throwing her out of the car – only to get back in and “run her over until she looked like spaghetti,” the court heard.
Ms Melton suffered bruising to her face and body, hemorrhages on her neck, and contusions to the lungs, liver, bladder, and colon, among others, the Independent said.
Among her injuries, Ruiz suffered a nasal bone fracture, a laceration to her left breast, bruising on both sides of her body, and multiple rib fractures.
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Wilson’s lawyers argued he suffered brain damage from drug addiction and had abandonment issues stemming from being given up for adoption by his biological parents.
His adoptive parents pleaded for clemency saying in a letter that: “the human is still in there.”
Wilson was also found guilty of grand theft, burglary of a dwelling, battery, and petit theft.
In Florida, anyone sentenced to death can choose between lethal injection or electrocution.