Clearwater, FL – On Friday, Rachel Wade will return to a Clearwater, Florida courtroom, perhaps for the final time, as she learns how many decades she’ll spend in a Florida prison for stabbing another teen in April 2009.
Wade went to trial last July accused of second degree murder in the stabbing death of Sarah Ludemann. The two women, only teenagers at the time, had fought for months via voicemails, text messages and MySpace postings over their relationship with the same young man, Joshua Camacho. The feud culminated in a fatal confrontation in the early morning hours of April 15, 2009.
After a three-day trial and only two and a half hours of deliberation, a jury of five men and one woman convicted Wade of second degree murder. Wade had claimed self-defense and hoped for an acquittal or no more than a manslaughter conviction. Now that she is a convicted murderer, she faces at least 20 years in prison and possibly life. A life sentence is without parole; a term of years means she’ll have to serve 85% of it.
Friday’s hearing is likely to be emotional as victim impact statements are presented by the State. Sarah Ludemann’s relatives have already submitted letters to the judge asking that Wade be sentenced to life. In one letter, Ludemann’s aunt says her heart broke when Sarah’s mother said “that she did not care what the sentence was as long as she was dead before Rachel was free.”
The defense will also present statements. The judge is likely to hear from a few of Wade’s close friends, her parents, and Wade herself. They hope the judge will have some mercy on Wade and give her the chance to rejoin society one day.
In sentencing Wade, the judge will take into consideration the evidence presented at trial, the statements presented at the hearing, Wade’s background, and her remorse. Wade’s parents say their daughter weeps often and is sorry she took another life; that she has said Ludemann did not deserve to die. Others interpret Wade’s tears as sorrow for herself and the mess she’s in today, not sincere remorse for the life she took that night.
- Beth Karas, In Session Correspondent
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