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Thread: William Edward Wells - Florida Death Row

  1. #1
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    William Edward Wells - Florida Death Row


    Billy Wells, and at right, William Chapman



    'Monster of Mayport' indicted on 7th murder charge

    Billy Wells previously plead guilty to the murders of six people

    By News4JAX.com Staff

    BRADFORD COUNTY, Fla. - A Bradford County grand jury today returned a first-degree murder indictment today against Billy Wells, the so-called "Monster of Mayport."

    Wells has been charged with the prison murder of inmate William Chapman at Florida State Prison in Bradford County on July 5. Chapman, 32, was serving nine years for Volusia County burglary convictions.

    Wells was in prison after he pleaded guilty to the murders of five people whose decomposing bodies were found in his Mayport mobile home in 2003. Four were family members.

    He eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2004.

    Wells killed another prison inmate in 2011 and again pleaded guilty and was handed another life sentence.

    He's repeatedly told prosecutors he wants to be executed.

    News4Jax was unable to find out if the State Attorney's Office filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty.

    https://www.news4jax.com/news/monste...-murder-charge
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  2. #2
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mastro Titta's Avatar
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    If the prosecutors won't seek the death penalty, they will have blood on their hands, because he will 100% murder someone else.

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    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Update: Gainesville state attorney overseeing the case said he will seek the death penalty

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime...ing/ar-AAJTPL7
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  4. #4
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    His codefendant in his first prison murder was Wayne Doty. This case is absolutely insane. Why is a guy months away from being released on a burglary charge being held anywhere near two incredibly dangerous and violent inmates who have killed both outside and inside of prison.
    How does that happen?

  5. #5
    Senior Member Frequent Poster NanduDas's Avatar
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    We don’t exactly have MENSA members running our prisons.
    "The pacifist is as surely a traitor to his country and to humanity as is the most brutal wrongdoer." -Theodore Roosevelt

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JLR View Post
    How does that happen?
    Same way that Bulger was placed into the same cellblock of a known Irish mobster that was well known for killing rats. Corruption or incompetency at the highest level.
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

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    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    The 'Monster of Mayport' makes appearance in heavily policed courtroom

    William Wells was surrounded nearly two dozen officers in and out of uniform, a show of force necessitated by his violent history

    By Anne Schindler
    First Coast News

    JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The man who calls himself the Monster of Mayport was in Bradford County court Friday morning, for the first time since he filed paperwork to represent himself and plead guilty to killing a fellow prison inmate.

    Those filings became moot, however, as Wells asked Circuit Judge Mark Moseley to appoint Regional Counsel John Broling as his lawyer. Broling immediately withdrew all the paperwork Wells had filed. He also waived Wells’ right to a speedy trial and told the judge he “would be litigating [the case] fully.”

    Wells entered court looking gaunt and calm, but his very presence created tension for law enforcement. There were no fewer than 19 uniformed law enforcement officers in the small courtroom, along with a few officers in plain clothes – a show of force that State Attorney Bill Cervone says is not typical.

    “Not for an ordinary defendant, no," Cervone told First Coast News. But it’s not unusual for a case of this sort involving defendants with this background.”

    Cervone says the large police presence was demanded by Wells’ violent history.

    “Any time you have inmates such as Wells and Boatman, there are legitimate security concerns by both the prison staff and the local jail staff that have to transport them," said Cervone. "That’s why there was a significant law enforcement presence”

    Wells earned his nickname for a 2003 mass killing in his Mayport trailer – five people, including his wife. While in prison, he was convicted of attempted murder, and then of first-degree murder. He is currently serving time for an accrued seven life sentences.

    But he faces the death penalty for allegedly stabbing a fellow inmate to death in July. Law enforcement and prison sources who’ve seen video of the incident say Wells and his alleged accomplice, Leo Boatman, brutally stabbed 32-year-old William Chapman to death inside Florida State Prison on July 5.

    Like Wells, Boatman is a repeat offender. He was convicted of murdering two Santa Fe College students camping in the Ocala National Forest in 2006. He was also convicted of beating a cellmate to death in 2011.

    Cervone said the waiver of a speedy trial could push the trial back at least a year but doesn’t fundamentally change the state’s plan. “I’m firmly convinced that under the state of Florida law this case is one that qualifies for imposition of the death penalty," he said.

    Wells is due back in court Jan. 29.

    https://www.firstcoastnews.com/artic...1-18ba3f2b5594
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  8. #8
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    How to survive in prison if you are alone , you have absolutely to belong to a gang
    In the Shadow of Your Wings
    1 A Prayer of David. Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

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    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Mayport Monster pleads guilty in death penalty case

    William Wells fired his attorneys and pleaded guilty to the brutal stabbing death of a fellow inmate

    By Anne Schindler
    First Coast News

    The killer who gave himself the moniker “the Monster of Mayport” surprised observers in court Wednesday when he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in his death penalty case.

    He also asked for and received permission to fire his public defender. He will now represent himself in court.

    Wells earned his nickname for a 2003 mass killing in his Mayport trailer – five people, including his wife. While in prison, he was convicted of attempted murder, and then of first-degree murder. He is currently serving time for an accrued seven life sentences.

    He now faces the death penalty for allegedly stabbing a fellow inmate to death in July. Law enforcement and prison sources who saw video of the incident say Wells and his alleged accomplice, Leo Boatman, brutally stabbed 32-year-old William Chapman to death inside Florida State Prison on July 5.

    Wells was questioned at length by Circuit Judge Mark Moseley to determine his mental competence, but the judge eventually accepted his guilty plea.

    A guilty plea in a death penalty case is not unheard of but is exceedingly rare. It means that a defendant forgoes a determination of guilt and moves directly into the penalty phase of a trial. It would be up to a jury to decide whether he should serve life in prison or receive the death penalty.

    A status conference in the case is scheduled for March 11.

    https://www.firstcoastnews.com/artic...b-a1e8a4953669
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  10. #10
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Its about time he went to DR

    Man serving life sentence for murder of 6 people given death penalty for killing 7th

    45-year-old once known as the Monster of Mayport

    By News4JAX.com

    JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Billy Wells, who earned the nickname “Monster of Mayport” after five bodies in varying states of decomposition were found in his Mayport mobile home in May 2003, was serving a life sentence at Florida State Prison when he killed again.

    Wells killed his wife and four other family members in a Mayport doublewide and lived there for another week with his 4-year-old son before he was arrested.

    Wells pleaded guilty to the five murders in 2003 in exchange for the state waiving the death penalty. Melissa Nelson, who was an assistant state attorney at the time and assigned to prosecute the case, said at the time that the victims’ family had asked for a life sentence instead of death.

    Before that plea deal, prosecutors expressed concern about his mental health and ability to understand the criminality of those killings.

    Wells was given another life sentence for killing an inmate in 2011. But after his conviction on a seventh murder -- killing fellow Florida State Prison inmate William Chapman in 2019 -- a judge on Tuesday has sentenced Wells to death.

    In sentencing Wells in Bradford County, Circuit Judge Mark Moseley wrote: “The aggravating circumstances far outweigh the mitigating circumstances which the court has heard and considered.”

    All death penalty sentences are automatically appealed to the Florida Supreme Court.

    Wells, now 45 years old, has repeatedly told prosecutors he wants to be executed.

    https://www.news4jax.com/news/florid...r-killing-7th/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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