Willie Ladell Freeman, Mike Silva, 33, and Gilbert Vallejo, 47
Summary of Offense:
A jury convicted Wilkins of capital murder for fatally shooting Willie Freeman and Mike Silva on October 27, 2005. A day earlier, according to prosecutors and to Wilkins himself, he killed Gilbert Vallejo outside a south-side bar during a dispute about the pay phone. "I make bad decisions," Wilkins explained. "I know they are bad decisions. I make them anyway."
Wilkins told the jury that he disapproved of many things that occurred during his trial. First, he said, he wanted to plead guilty to everything and just go straight to the penalty phase, but his attorneys, Wes Ball and J. Warren St. John, wanted to "bill up a whole bunch of hours," he joked. Second, he said, he did not want his family to testify on his behalf -- something that his attorneys arranged because they wanted the jury to hear what Wilkins was like when he was a child and young man.
Wilkins was sentenced to death in Tarrant County on March 12, 2008.
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