A man convicted of killing his girlfriend and their unborn child was sentenced to death Friday afternoon.
“Therefore, Jose Soto-Escalera, I hereby sentence you to death for the first-degree murder of Tanya Wise. I also independently sentence you to death for the first-degree murder of her unborn child,” Judge Lawrence Mirman said in court on Friday.
St. Lucie County jury recommends death sentence for man convicted of killing pregnant girlfriend
Last month, Soto-Escalera was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder. Prosecutors said that Soto-Escalera killed Wise so his wife would not find out that he and the victim were involved in a relationship. DNA evidence confirmed Soto-Escalera was the unborn baby’s father.
In August 2018, the body of Wise, 23, of Port St. Lucie, was found face down in a ditch off a rural road in northern St. Lucie County. Soto-Escalera, who was 41 years old at the time of the killing, was arrested 28 days after Wise’s body was discovered…