A Florida jury returned a death sentence Thursday to Jose Soto-Escalera, following a guilty verdict on a first-degree murder charge.
According to NBC 5, police found the victim, 23-year-old Tania Wise, face down with head and throat injures, in a ditch in northern St. Lucie County, in 2018.
Wise was eight and a half months pregnant with a son, and Soto-Escalera, married at the time, was the father.
Soto-Escalera reportedly gave Wise money for an abortion, but she decided against it. He became enraged that she didn’t go through with the procedure, according to a witness.
Court documents indicated that the pair met back in 2008 on MySpace, COURT TV reports.
Although witnesses for the defense claimed Escalera was not a violent person, prosecutor Donald Richardson said the defendant devised a plan for an “in-depth and devious” murder.
Escalera reportedly, felt he was “going to lose everything” if his wife found out about the pregnancy.
In an attempt to spare him the death penalty, the defense argued that his rage had been toward Wise, and not the unborn baby.
In a vote of eight to four, it took the jury a little under two hours to decide on the death penalty.
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[Feature Photo: Tania Wise/Haisley Funeral and Cremation Service]
