BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – A Titusville man who killed the manager of the motel he stayed at for months is going to prison for the rest of his life.
On Tuesday, Judge Sam Bookhardt sentenced Wade Field to two life sentences for the murder of Dan Wade and the attempted murder of the housekeeper at Wade’s motel in 2022, the Siesta Motor Inn.
In court, prosecutors for the first time showed video from a camera at the motel on US-1 when Field shot Wade and would have shot the housekeeper too, but Field’s gun jammed.
Field ran away, and when police found him, he shot himself.
“I’m going to adjudicate you guilty,” Judge Bookhardt said Tuesday. “Sentence you to life in prison without the possibility of parole.”
Dan Wade’s brother, Mark, told News 6 reporter James Sparvero that Field was living at the motel because Wade was nice enough to give him a place to stay.
In court, the state argued Field knew what he was doing when he shot Wade and attempted to shoot the housekeeper.
“Mr. Field retrieved his gun. He had formed an intent,” Assistant State Attorney Greg Hansen said.
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The defense countered by saying Field is mentally ill.
“Life without the possibility of parole, like is the law in the state of Florida, is not a humane sentence for someone who is mentally ill,” defense attorney Michael Pirolo said.
Mark Wade said he was relieved when Judge Bookhardt sentenced Field to life.
“Danny got what he deserved,” Wade said. “He deserved him getting life in prison. Danny did nothing but good stuff to him.”
One of those acts of kindness, according to Wade, was his brother baking a birthday cake for Field when the convicted murderer had no one else to celebrate his birthday with.
“He always wanted to be kind,” Wade said.
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