Jury selection Monday for man accused of killing Fort Myers police officer

After almost five years, jury selection will begin Monday in an accused cop killer’s trial. Fort Myers Police Officer Adam Jobbers-Miller lost his life in the summer of 2018 in the line of duty. His accused killer, Wisner Desmaret, is representing himself at trial and tried to delay its start again.

It will be a jury selection unlike just about any other. Desmaret is acting as his own lawyer and will be able to question the panel.

It comes after he said in court Thursday that he doesn’t trust any jurors coming from Florida, the state that wants to put him to death.

“The court is taking down everything you say. I need to give you that caution so that you understand,” said Judge Robert Branning on Thursday.

Branning was warning Desmaret not to talk about the details of his case before his trial begins.

“He yelled to the officer to kill me. He told the officer to kill me, and when you see it, I’m on the floor panicking, and I’m telling the officer, ‘don’t shoot me. I was in fear for my life,” said Desmaret, ignoring the judge’s warning.

Desmaret is charged with the killing of Adam Jobbers-Miller in 2018. He spent most of his pretrial hearing raising concerns he claimed he wanted to clear up before his trial.

“There’s a whole lot of things I want to talk about today,” said Desmaret. “I feel like there’s a lot of people going to my family and my family members and telling them to fight against me and set me up if I get out so they can say they will come into my house and kill me and this is Fort Myers police officers.”

Desmaret went on to say, “I’ve heard rumors about a lawsuit, and they’ve been following me, stalking me”

The judge told Desmaret that his safety and everyone else’s in the courtroom is the top priority.

Desmaret agreed. He will begin trial Monday with jury selection.

Desmaret faces the death penalty if convicted. WINK News will update you with the latest on the trial as it happens.