LEE COUNTY, Fla. — The man accused of killing two Cape Coral women tried to escape prison this morning.
Wade Wilson is the man accused of murdering two Cape Coral women in 2019.
The Lee County Sheriff's Office says Wilson and his cellmate Joseph Katz were being held overnight at the Lee County Core Facility when they attempted an escape.
LCSO says the two had a cracked window in their cell.
Investigators say the inmates would not have been able to escape because of the advanced security measures and technology.
Both Wilson and Katz now face charges of attempted escape and criminal mischief.
In an interview last year, Wilson told FOX 4 that wasn't guilty.
"I did not commit those murders and I am innocent," he said.
Over the last year he has continued to reach out and has stuck to that claim, though he's since shared new details.
Earlier this year he told FOX 4 that he used to be connected to a high-level human trafficking ring and that he would groom women for them.
He says when he tried to leave the ring last year, the group framed him for these murders as punishment.
Local attorney and FGCU professor Pamella Seay says these new charges technically shouldn't have any impact on Wilson's trial.
"It is not evidence of the original for which he is being prosecuted," she said.
But they still could.
And she says his defense team will likely ask the judge to keep a jury from hearing about it.
"They're going to call it unfairly prejudicial. What that means is he's concerned that the jury will accept that his flight, his escape as evidence of guilt and simply convict him because he's a 'Bad man. He's a bad guy,'" she said.
That being said, Seay also adds that prosecutors will probably keep these new charges in their back pocket, just in case the trial doesn't go their way.
"At that point they bring in the charges of escape and boom. You convict him on that easily," she said.
Wilson's court date for these new charges is November 2nd.
His next court date for the murder case is set for December 8th.
Katz is currently in jail on charges of Aggravated Battery, Probation Violation, and Obstructing Justice-Tampering.
