Mark Wilson Jr. was legally given the death penalty by a judge for the murder of two young brothers in Putnam County in 2020.
A jury unanimously recommended the death penalty for Mark Wilson Jr. last year after he was found guilty of two charges of first-degree murder in the deaths of Tayten Baker, 14, and Robert Baker, 12, respectively. When the boys were stabbed and beaten at their Melrose home, he was dating their aunt.
Wilson’s lawyer argued that because of a history of drug addiction and child abuse on his own part, he should receive life in prison rather than death. Circuit Judge Howard O. McGillin Jr. disagreed and gave him a death sentence for the murder of both boys on Friday.
The judge ruled that Mark Wilson deserved to die for the brutal killings of Tayten and Robert Baker, as well as for the growing body of evidence showing that this was a planned, cold, and intentional murder.
Wilson’s family was on the left and Tayten and Robert Baker’s family was on the right inside the courtroom. It was a painful and emotional day as the judge summarised what he had learned from the testimony and evidence presented during the trial and explained why he had decided to sentence Wilson to death.
“The proof of torture, egregious brutality, and Tayten Baker’s murder is self-evident. At the far end of the pool table, the blood trail begins.
There’s a lot of blood there in a pool. It is obvious where the attack started. Tayten was clearly trying to flee the homicidal onslaught, as evidenced by the blood trail that wrapped around and under the leg at the end of the table.
Tayten made conscious attempts to defend himself from the knife, as evidenced by the defensive wound on his hand. Nearly at the opposite end of the table from where Tayten’s body was discovered, the blood trail extends for many feet.
The trail strongly implies that he was fleeing the onslaught by crawling. The judge said: “The handprint on the wall suggests he is alive and, once again, strongly suggests he was going for his cellphone, which was plugged in close to the handprint. Finally, the abrasion on his face demonstrated that the victim was face down when the defendant repeatedly attacked him.
Kelli Cocco, the cousin of the Baker boys, leaned on the mother of the boys at one point during the sentencing as the sentence was being read.
Wilson’s mother was visibly upset as she realised that her son’s life would not be spared on the other side of the courtroom.
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