Jakiem Wilson
RALEIGH – Jurors will return to court Saturday to hear closing arguments in the sentencing phase of Jakiem Wilson's trial.
The same jury found Wilson guilty Thursday of first-degree murder for the death of his wife Nneka.
Wilson admitted he killed her more than a year ago in their Wendell, N.C., home. Prosecutors said the murder was deliberate, but defense attorneys claimed he stabbed Nneka to death in a fit of rage.
Nneka Wilson’s family – including her cousin, Wanda Gilbert-Coker – was back in court Friday as witnesses took the stand for the sentencing phase of Jakiem’s trial.
"Nneka would want us to see this through," Gilbert-Coker said. "We pray that the North Carolina judicial system continues to do what we expect – and that's the death penalty.”
The prosecution called some of Nneka's other family members to the stand, where they described the trauma the family has experienced since her murder.
Wilson did not to testify. Instead, his mother Kvanessa Wilson took the stand. She described her reaction when her son revealed he was abused by his uncle and a family friend.
After a juror convicted him of the first-degree murder of his wife, Jakiem Wilson now awaits sentencing. The jury will hear closing arguments Saturday morning.
"I didn't want to hear it,” Kvanessa Wilson said, in tears. “At that point, I really got mad."
Family members became even more emotional when a psychiatrist took the stand on behalf of the defense, giving graphic testimony of Wilson's childhood sexual abuse.
"I have no doubt Jakiem Wilson was sexually abused in his childhood," Dr. Matthew Mendel said.
The doctor testified that the abuse led to other problems in Wilson's life – including his inability to trust and his infidelity in his marriage to Nneka.
"It was that issue -- his infidelity -- that led ultimately to this tragedy. To the murder of Nneka," Mendel said.
But Nneka’s family said it wasn’t an excuse to take his wife’s life, and said Wilson should be sentenced to death.
"Everybody has a past, whether it's good or bad,” Gilbert-Coker said. “That's no reason to go and kill anyone.”
Closing arguments start Saturday at 9 a.m.
If jurors decide on the death penalty, Wilson would be the second person in Wake County to be sentenced to death since a moratorium on executions took effect last year.
Byron Waring received a death sentence last July for the 2005 stabbing death of Lauren Redman.