Opening statements for Wisner Desmaret’s death penalty trial begin Monday

The trial for the man accused of killing a Fort Myers Police Officer is undoubtedly unique in how it’s going.

In the death penalty trial, Wisner Desmaret is defending himself, but that’s only one of the factors making this trial unique.

Shellie Desmaret told WINK News she is watching her brother fall apart before her eyes. She believes Desmaret, her brother, is not competent and shouldn’t be representing himself.

Jury selection is over, and Desmaret will be going to court on Monday for opening statements.

Shellie is concerned things will only get worse going forward.

“Just the history of his mental illness charts. Like it’s 1000s of pages. And so reading like this didn’t just start now it’s been going on since he was younger. From the juvenile cases like, like, this is not a yesterday thing,” Shellie said.

“It’s like watching a clown in the circus,” Shellie said.

over four days of jury selection, Desmaret’s comments echoed through the courtroom.

“That is a man in women’s clothing,” Desmaret said, referring to Amira Fox, the state attorney.

“I’m being prosecuted by a transgender,” Desmaret said.

And confusion about what is happening in the courtroom.

“Why is we having preliminary hearing and we at trial,” Desmaret asked.

Desmaret went on to ask prospective jurors questions.

“So did the state pay you to come here,” Desmaret asked. “Do you have a preference gender like if somebody straight or something?”

Then deciding to take a different approach, Desmaret goes silent.

“I’m the listener; I’m just listening,” Desmaret said.

Thursday WINK News watched as Desmaret let the state have full control over choosing the jury panel that will decide first if he is guilty or not of shooting Adam Jobbers-Miller, an FMPD officer in the head in 2018. Then, if found guilty, the jury will decide if Desmaret should be sentenced to death for the crime.

“I’m just chilling right now to see what the state got goin’ on,” Desmaret said.

Judge Robert Branning found Desmaret competent to act as his own attorney, despite his history of mental illness.

“They know the state and the judge can clearly see that he’s not competent to represent himself like, just again like I was saying like the history of our brothers previous cases, like, you guys know the history. Why would you guys give someone the okay to represent themselves knowing the history of this person? It’s just not making sense,” Shellie said.

Shellie told WINK News that the decision needs to be revisited.

“You see it right in front of your eyes like you can see talking to someone that doesn’t comprehend, I don’t feel like he’s able to represent himself. He can’t defend himself in the proper way,” Shellie said.

Shellie told WINK News, Desmaret’s unpredictability we’ve seen in the courtroom is what her family would regularly see.

“We have, you know, conversations where he may seem okay, the next conversation like he’s talking some like off the chart stuff like he, he’s not here,” Shellie said.

Shellie Desmaret told WINK News she hopes the judge has a change of heart and appoints an attorney to represent her brother.