State rests in death penalty trial of Wisner Desmaret

The state of Florida rested its case Tuesday afternoon in the death penalty trial of Wisner Desmaret, accused of killing Fort Myers Police Officer Adam Jobbers-Miller in 2018.

Closing arguments were expected Wednesday morning, but this trial has not been predictable.

Up to three weeks long, that’s what Judge Robert Branning said last week when considering the expected length of the trial.

But it only took two days for both the state and Wisner Desmaret to call witnesses, present evidence, and ultimately rest their cases on Tuesday.

Before The State rested its case on Tuesday, they showed their final piece of evidence, Officer Adam Jobbers Miller’s gun.

Desmaret did not present any evidence of his own instead, he took the stand and testified.

“Something took over my body I took off running and I remember putting my hands up then me and the officer made contact and somebody is trying to take me down and I hear gunshots going off and I remember being at the gas station being shot,” Desmaret said.

Desmaret directly called out the police department.

“Say somebody got AIDS and they blood dirty and I got clean blood and they take mine cause they rich and they need it and they take mine cause I’m not sick,” Desmaret said. “And you got the cops killing people for this.”

Before the jury, Desmaret ultimately claimed that he was acting in self-defense.

“If I’m an attacker I’m attacking all day I’m bringing it to you I didn’t see that I just saw a man on the ground begging not to get shot,” Desmaret said.

Before the trial began on Tuesday, Lee Hollander, Desmaret’s standby attorney, asked the Judge to revisit Desmaret’s competency. The Judge said he had already been evaluated and it is his right to represent himself.