Ronell Wilson

{{Short description|American convicted of murder (born 1982)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}}

{{Infobox criminal

| name = Ronell Wilson

| image = Ronell Wilson (mugshot).jpg

| caption = Wilson's booking photo

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1982|5|4}}

| birth_place = New York, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| cause =

| victims = James V. Nemorin, 36
Rodney J. Andrews, 34

| parents =

| children = 1

| country = United States

| states = New York

| date = March 10, 2003

| conviction = Murder in aid of racketeering (18 U.S.C. § 1959) (2 counts)
Carjacking resulting in death (18 U.S.C. § 2119)
Use of a firearm during a crime of violence resulting in death (18 U.S.C. § 924) (2 counts)
Conspiracy to commit robbery (18 U.S.C. § 1951) (2 counts)
Attempted robbery (18 U.S.C. § 1951)
Use of a firearm during a crime of violence (18 U.S.C. § 924) (2 counts)

| sentence = Death; commuted to life imprisonment

| criminal_status = Incarcerated

| locations = Staten Island, New York

| imprisoned = USP Coleman II

}}

Ronell Earl Wilson (born May 4, 1982) is an American murderer who was convicted of the 2003 capital murder of two undercover New York City police officers in Staten Island, New York. His trial before Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York began on November 27, 2006. On December 20, 2006, he was found guilty of the capital murders as well as other related charges.{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/20/nyregion/20cnd-verdict.html | work=The New York Times | first1=Maria | last1=Newman | first2=Matt | last2=Sweeney | title=Man Convicted in Killing of Undercover Detectives |date=December 20, 2006 |access-date=June 13, 2023 |url-access=limited}} On January 30, 2007, Wilson was sentenced to death,{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/30/nyregion/30cnd-death.html |work=The New York Times |first=Michael |last=Brick |title=Killer of 2 N.Y. Detectives Is Sentenced to Death |date=January 30, 2007 |access-date=June 13, 2023 |url-access=limited}} the first such sentence by a federal jury in New York since the federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988.{{cite news |url=https://www.newsday.com/news/new-york/ronell-wilson-jury-death-penalty-for-cop-killer-d61310 |title=Ronell Wilson jury: Death penalty for cop killer |work=Newsday |first=Anthony M. |last=Destefano |date=July 24, 2013 |access-date=June 13, 2023 |url-access=subscription}}

Prosecutors alleged Wilson was the leader of a violent drug gang called the Stapleton Crew (witnesses at the trial denied using that label) that originated in the Stapleton Houses, a public housing complex in Staten Island. He was convicted for murdering New York City Police Department detectives James Nemorin and Rodney Andrews in a gun sale, then searching their bodies and stealing their car. The victims' family members and fellow police officers greeted pronouncement of his death sentence with cheers and applause; Wilson reacted by sticking his tongue out in their direction.{{cite news |url=https://nypost.com/2013/06/22/officer-slay-tongue-lash/ |title=Officer-slay tongue lash |first=Selim |last=Algar |work=New York Post |date=June 22, 2013 |access-date=June 13, 2023}}{{cite web |title=Fry Baby |first=Stefanie |last=Cohen |work=New York Post |date=January 31, 2007 |url=https://nypost.com/2007/01/31/fry-baby/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230429154519/https://nypost.com/2007/01/31/fry-baby/ |archive-date=April 29, 2023 |access-date=June 13, 2023}}

The case has attracted media attention due to the brutality of the murders and the rarity of a capital prosecution in New York. Wilson was the first federal defendant sentenced to death in New York City since 1954. Wilson was originally charged in New York state court, but the federal government took over the prosecution after the New York Court of Appeals held, in People v. LaValle, that the state's death penalty statute violated the New York State Constitution.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/12/nyregion/decade-later-still-seeking-a-rare-new-york-execution.html |title=Decade Later, Still Seeking a Rare New York Execution |first=Mosi |last=Secret |work=The New York Times |date=July 11, 2013 |access-date=June 13, 2023 |url-access=limited}} Wilson was held at the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.[http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=NameSearch&needingMoreList=false&FirstName=ronell&Middle=&LastName=wilson&Race=U&Sex=U&Age=&x=0&y=0 Federal Bureau of Prisons]

In 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed Wilson's sentence.{{cite court |litigants=United States v. Whitten |vol=610 |reporter=F.3d |opinion=168 |court=2d Cir. |date=2010 |url=https://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/624404aa-dbc2-4f42-be15-3ba3a4897cfd/8/doc/07-1320-cr_opn2.pdf}} In the sentencing phase, the prosecutor "argued: [i] that Wilson put the government to its proof of guilt rather than plead guilty; and [ii] that Wilson's allocution of remorse should be discredited because he failed to testify notwithstanding the fact that "the path for that witness stand has never been blocked for Mr. Wilson." As to the first argument, although a guilty plea may properly be considered to support a sentence mitigation for acceptance of responsibility, the Sixth Amendment is violated when failure to plead guilty is treated as an aggravating circumstance. As to the second, it is a fair argument for the prosecution to say that an allocution of remorse is unsworn and uncrossed, but the Fifth Amendment is violated when the defendant is denied a charge that limits the Fifth Amendment waiver to that which is said in the allocution and the jury is invited to consider more generally that the defendant declined to testify." Because these constitutional violations were not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, the court vacated Wilson's and his co-defendants' death sentences and remanded to the trial court for re-sentencing. The government's petition for rehearing en banc was denied on October 19, 2010.

After the court of appeals vacated Wilson's death sentence, Wilson moved from the United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute, to the Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn.{{Cite web |title=Inmate Locator |url=https://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/ |website=Federal Bureau of Prisons – Inmate Locator}} While in the MDC, he fathered a child with Federal Officer Nancy Gonzalez during an illicit rendezvous in the staff bathroom on July 15, 2012. On March 22, 2013, Gonzalez gave birth to a son they named Justus.{{cite news |last=Marzulli |first=John |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/surveillance-shows-ronell-wilson-guard-sex-article-1.1389463 |title=Prison Guard Pleads Guilty to Jailhouse Sex with Ronell Wilson |work=New York Daily News |date=July 3, 2013 |access-date=June 13, 2023 |url-access=subscription}}

The prosecutor in the original case, Jack Smith, served as chief of the Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice and was appointed as the special counsel investigating Donald Trump in 2022.{{cite web |last1=Cohen |first1=Zachary |last2=Scannell |first2=Kara |last3=Herb |first3=Jeremy |last4=Polantz |first4=Katelyn |last5=Duster |first5=Chandelis |title=Who is Jack Smith, the special counsel named in the Trump investigations |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/18/politics/jack-smith-special-counsel/index.html |website=CNN.com |access-date=December 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221127025707/https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/18/politics/jack-smith-special-counsel/index.html |archive-date=November 27, 2022 |date=November 19, 2022 |url-status=live}}

On July 24, 2013, a Brooklyn federal jury sentenced Wilson to death for the 2003 murders, reinstating the previous death sentence that was thrown out in 2010.{{cite web|title=Ronell Wilson Sentenced To Death A Second Time For Killing Two NYPD Officers|url=http://www.ny1.com/content/news/186026/ronell-wilson-sentenced-to-death-a-second-time-for-killing-two-nypd-officers|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130827221223/http://www.ny1.com/content/news/186026/ronell-wilson-sentenced-to-death-a-second-time-for-killing-two-nypd-officers|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 27, 2013|publisher=NY1|accessdate=October 14, 2013}} During his direct appeal, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals had remanded the case to the district court with direction to reconsider, in light of an intervening Supreme Court case, the district court's earlier ruling that Wilson is not intellectually disabled.{{Cite web |date=2015-07-02 |title=Eastern District of New York {{!}} Jury Verdict Imposes Death Penalty On Ronell Wilson {{!}} United States Department of Justice |url=https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/jury-verdict-imposes-death-penalty-ronell-wilson |access-date=2025-05-28 |website=www.justice.gov |language=en}}

On March 15, 2016, Judge Garaufis concluded that Wilson is mentally handicapped, making him ineligible for execution under the Eighth Amendment.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/killer-ronell-wilson-spared-death-penalty-article-1.2565099|title=Cop killer Ronell Wilson spared death penalty|website=New York Daily News |date=March 15, 2016 |access-date=August 2, 2016}} Federal prosecutors later announced they would not appeal this ruling.{{cite news |url=https://apnews.com/article/eea7a017eaa44b6e9056ff3c642c4079 |title=Reversal of death penalty for cop killer won't be appealed |date=June 26, 2017 |access-date=June 13, 2023 |work=AP News}} Wilson was resentenced to life in prison without parole. As of 2024, Wilson is serving his sentence at USP Coleman II in Sumter County, Florida.