Opinion ID: 77358
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Fatta's Murder

Text: 2 In the summer of 2001, Wilk's domestic partner, Kelly Ray Jones (Jones), was arrested and convicted on child pornography charges. Jones was sentenced to twenty-eight months' imprisonment and three years of supervised release. A condition of Jones's supervised release was that he not use the Internet. During Jones's prosecution, Wilk made threats to law enforcement personnel, some of which he made online under his computer screen name Wolfpackeines. Wilk's online profile listed hobbies such as hunting cops and occupations such as cop bashing and alerting people about kiddy porn stings. Around this time, Wilk purchased several firearms and participated in firearm skill shooting contests throughout Florida. Wilk purchased additional firearms in 2002 and 2003, including a Winchester 30-30 rifle. 3 On July 12, 2004, while on supervised release, Jones sent images depicting child pornography to an undercover law enforcement officer from Wilk's Internet account on a computer at a residence shared by Jones and Wilk. On July 15, 2004, as a result of further investigation, police obtained a search warrant, searched the residence, recovered numerous child pornography images, and arrested Jones on the scene. 4 While Jones was incarcerated, he instructed Wilk to contact a witness whom the police told Jones not to contact. Wilk went to the witness's apartment and told him that, even if the witness cooperated, the witness would still have to serve prison time. At Jones's direction, Wilk sent derogatory emails to the witness's business associate in an attempt to discredit the witness. Further communication between Jones and Wilk suggested that Wilk planned to threaten or kill a witness against Jones. Also at Jones's instruction, Wilk deleted emails relevant to Jones's child pornography charges. 5 Following these events, federal agents obtained an arrest warrant for Wilk and a search warrant for his residence. Agents initially planned to use a ruse to lure Wilk from the residence, but abandoned the idea after learning that Wilk anticipated such a tactic. On August 19, 2004, Fatta and Sergeant Angelo Cedeno (Cedeno), both of the Broward County Sheriff's Office, assisted federal agents, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent Christopher Harvey, in the execution of the warrants. After surrounding the residence and announcing themselves, the officers forcibly entered. 6 Upon entry, two large caliber gunshots were heard, followed by several smaller caliber gunshots. At that point, Cedeno was injured from the shooting, and Wilk appeared at the open front door. Wilk complied with officers' demands to surrender and was arrested. A gun was found in the front doorway from which Wilk exited the residence. Inside the residence, Fatta was found shot on the floor and did not appear to be breathing. Despite attempts to revive him, Fatta subsequently died. Other than Wilk, no one else was found in the residence. 7 The next day, on August 20, 2004, the district court appointed J. Rafael Rodriguez, who has extensive experience in capital crimes litigation, to represent Wilk. On August 26, 2004, Wilk and Jones were indicted jointly in a five-count indictment that charged them with child pornography and witness and evidence tampering offenses. 1 On September 1, 2004, Wilk was arraigned on this initial indictment, and on September 2, 2004, the district court set a trial date of November 1, 2004, on the five-count indictment. As detailed below, the capital murder charges in this case were added later. 8 On September 22, 2004, Wilk made a presentation to the United States Attorney's Office in Florida regarding the propriety of capital punishment in this case in connection with Fatta's murder. 2 A meeting on the matter with the Capital Case Unit of the Justice Department was scheduled for October 18, 2004, in Washington, D.C. 3