Jakiem Wilson
RALEIGH – A Wake County jury sentenced Jakiem Wilson to life in prison Saturday for the murder of his wife Nneka.
After deliberating for less than an hour -- jurors decided to give Wilson life without parole. On Thursday, the same jury convicted Wilson of the first-degree murder of his wife 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.
In the courtroom Saturday, the 24-year-old Wilson apologized to his wife's family members, who returned to court for the sentencing phase of Wilson’s trial.
After deliberating for less than an hour, jurors decided to give Jakiem Wilson life without parole for the first-degree murder of his wife more than a year ago in their Wendell, N.C., home.
"Honestly, the only reason why it happened because she found out I was cheating on her,” Wilson said. “So I got scared and everything happened afterwards."
Prosecutors said he deserved to die for killing his wife and the mother of their two children.
"She had no idea that she would never get to hold them, get to kiss them, get to tell them goodnight again," Becky Holt, Wake County assistant district attorney, said.
But Wilson’s lawyers gave jurors 29 reasons he should not get the death penalty – and one of those reasons was his children.
"They don't have to have any contact with him ever again,” Wilson’s defense attorney said. “But what if they want to? What if they want to confront him? What if they need to?”
But the jury’s decision didn’t sit well with the victim’s family.
"Either the death penalty or life in prison isn't harsh enough,” Wanda Gilbert Coker, Nneka’s cousin, said. “Because he brutally and viciously tortured Nneka even after he murdered her."
To other men have also been charged in the case. Jamie Holder, 18, and Roderick Howell, 17, are charged with being accessories in the crime.