New trial denied for Fort Myers cop-killer: ‘What just happened?’

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Wisner Desmaret in court on March 30, 2023. (Credit: WINK News)

Wisner Desmaret will not get a new trial for the murder of Fort Myers Police Officer Adam Jobbers-Miller.

While Desmaret does not want to spend the rest of his life in prison, the judge made it clear he will not going to get a new trial because everything that happened at the first one was by the book.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Desmaret explained why he thinks he deserves a new trial.

“To tell you the truth, I didn’t know what was going on in the trial,” Desmaret said. “I got lost in the conversation, and I still don’t know what happened during that trial.”

In April, a jury convicted Desmaret of murdering Jobbers-Miller in 2018, shooting the officer in the head. Desmaret represented himself in court.

Lee Hollander, his standby attorney, filed a motion arguing Desamret was not competent during the trial and is not competent now.

“As you could see during the trial, his defense of ‘drink my blood, eat my organs’ didn’t deal with the issue at hand,” Hollander said.

Hollander was referring to when Desmaret, during his trial, said police officers wanted to steal his blood and organs. He also claimed State Attorney Amira Fox is secretly transgender and asked jurors if they were paid off.

At one point, crucial to Hollander’s claim of incompetence, Desmaret claimed he was hearing voices.

“Set aside the verdict and give him a new trial,” Hollander said.

The State attorney argued it doesn’t matter what Desmaret said or did because a series of doctors found him competent: “This defendant was evaluated numerous times.”

Desmaret appeared confused when the judge denied his motion for a new trial.

“Wait, what just happened?” Desmaret said.

Hollander told the judge he’s already talked with the lawyer who will represent Desmaret on appeal. That attorney is evidently building his case on the fact Desmaret was not evaluated the moment he said in court that he was hearing voices.

Desmaret’s defense hopes that will be grounds for a mistrial. For now, though, Desmaret faces life in prison when he is formally sentenced on June 5.

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