Family wants children to be remembered
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Mark Wilson
Nearly 2 ½ years after convicted murderer Mark Howard Wilson Jr. brutally killed two young Melrose brothers, a Putnam County judge handed down a formal sentencing Friday: death.
In October, a jury of 12 women found Wilson guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, burglary with assault or battery, and burglary while armed for beating to death 14-year-old Tayten Baker and 12-year-old Robert Baker with a hammer and slashing the boys’ throats in their Melrose home Aug. 26, 2020. Jurors later recommended Wilson be put to death for his crimes.
Wilson, as well as the courtroom gallery, sat in silence at the Putnam County Courthouse Annex, listening intently to Judge Howard McGillin read portions of the 49-page sentencing order that sealed the defendant’s fate, accepting the jury’s earlier recommendation.
“It remains solidly within the discretion of the court to make a final decision. … As a judge, however, one remains mindful that we do not sit to impose our own biases and preferences upon the parties,” McGillin said. “That’s something that’s overlooked in today’s society. As a judge, it’s our role to be neutral and independent arbiters of facts and law.”
McGillin said the court gave “considerable reflection and deliberation on the ability of the court to exercise its discretion in favor of life,” and acknowledged Wilson’s own apology and a “truly moving plea” from the defendant’s mother were worthy of consideration. But ultimately, the judge said, “The defendant committed two truly horrific murders of innocent children.”
“Tayton’s death in particular was especially cruel and undoubtedly painful,” McGillin said.
Evidence strongly suggests, McGillin noted, 14-year-old Tayton was alive and suffering for “some time” throughout the assault, including when “the knife blade sawed across his throat.”
The sobering silence of the courtroom pronounced the muffled sobs of the children’s family as they listened to McGillin convey the order.
The judge said that while the mental health and childhood trauma Wilson’s defense attorneys presented are proven “in the abstract,” the court found no sufficient proof that those influenced the crimes at the time of the attack.
Among the family, the judge and the State Attorney’s Office, all seemed to agree that while the sentencing provides a much-needed end to courthouse visits, “closure” in this instance is elusive.
“I don’t believe in that word, ‘closure,’” said R.J. Larizza, state attorney for the 7th Judicial Circuit of Florida, whose team prosecuted the case. “Maybe they’ll get a little peace out of the fact that he’s been held accountable … but this was a catastrophic event that (will change the family’s lives) and change them forever.”
Larizza added that the children’s families will “go to their graves feeling the grief and the anger and the despair and the suffering that these murders caused, and there’s nothing that can change that.”
“It’s so heartbreaking,” Larizza said. “It’s unimaginable what they’ve gone through.”
"This will not bring back Robert and Tayten Baker, but it does close the door of uncertainty the family has lived through these last two and a half years," said Sheriff H.D. 'Gator' DeLoach in a statement issued on social media. "Our hearts are broken for the family. There will never be enough to right the terrible wrong this monster did to these children and this family, but if anyone deserved the death penalty it is Mark Wilson."
DeLoach said there will likely be appeals, but added that, "Today is a win for those who fight for justice and I personally cannot wait to have this waste of existence vacate my jail and be delivered to death row at the Florida state prison in Raiford."
Kelli Cocco, the young boys’ cousin and spokesperson for the family after Friday’s sentencing, said while the family is relieved they won’t have to go back to the courtroom, there would be no real closure. She said the incident has left her and others never quite feeling safe.
“I think that’s the hardest part,” Cocco said. “You never feel safe … you know, the boogeyman was always outside, not inside.”
She said this experience changed that feeling forever.
Moving forward, though, Cocco said she and the rest of Tayton and Robert’s family want the children to be remembered for who they were and not what happened to them. They celebrate the boys’ birthdays and holidays with balloon releases and parties and lighted candles.
“That way, they’re there,” said Cocco. “Present at every affair.”