**Florida Man Sentenced to Death for Murdering His 9-Months Pregnant Secret Lover Who Refused Abortion**

*By Lauren Acton-Taylor | Daily Mail UK | October 15, 2025*

A Florida man was sentenced to death for the brutal murder of his 9-months pregnant secret lover just days before she was due to give birth.

Jose Soto-Escalera, 49, was convicted in 2018 for the murders of 23-year-old Tania Wise and their unborn son. On Friday, Judge Lawrence Mirman handed down the death sentence after Soto-Escalera was found guilty on two counts of first-degree murder.

Tania Wise was just one week away from delivering what would have been her second child, Josiah, when she was killed. Reports indicate that the murder followed her refusal to obtain an abortion. Her body was discovered in a roadside ditch on August 24, 2018, with severe injuries, including a bashed-in head and a slit throat.

The jury voted 8-4 in favor of the death penalty, a decision that Judge Mirman later endorsed.

During the sentencing, Soto-Escalera’s attorney, Tom Burns, highlighted his difficult childhood and experiences of being bullied. Burns urged the court to consider life imprisonment instead, citing Soto-Escalera’s good behavior while incarcerated, according to Law & Crime.

However, Judge Mirman emphasized that the aggravating factors related to the murders—especially the death of the unborn child—outweighed any mitigating circumstances such as his good conduct and troubled past.

Lead prosecutor Assistant State Attorney Donald Richardson told Treasure Coast Newspapers that the evidence against Soto-Escalera was “conclusive” and that “there was no question as to his guilt.” He also described the case as “so egregious” that he was not surprised by the jury’s decision. “The facts were truly extreme,” Richardson added.

Expressing her feelings on the verdict, Tania Wise’s mother, Elizabeth Bedolla, told the outlet, “I’m not going to say that I am super happy because it doesn’t change anything. But justice needed to be done.”

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*Keywords: abortion, Florida, pro-life, Jose Soto-Escalera*

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