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Rachel Wade Guilty of Second-Degree Murder For Ludemann Death
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by Amy Judd | July 23, 2010 at 12:15 pm
1815 views | 0 Recommendations | 8 comments
Rachel Wade Has Been Found Guilty of Second-Degree Murder For the Stabbing Death of Sarah Ludemann
Rachel Wade will be sentenced on September 3 and faces 20 years to life in prison for the death of 18-year-old Sarah Ludemann on April 15 2009.
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The St. Petersburg Times reports that when the verdict was read out, girls in the courtroom could be heard saying 'yes!' and Wade broke down in to tears. The six person jury only took just over two hours to decide on the guilty verdict.
It is thought that Wade and Ludemann were involved in an argument over a man called Joshua Camacho, who was sleeping with both of them but never called either his girlfriend. On the night of April 14 2009, Wade said that Lundemann had verbally threatened her and that her attack was in self-defense. She stabbed Lundemann twice and she died just minutes later.
The state attorneys argued that Wade put the knife in her purse that night with the purpose of carrying out the previous threats she had made on Ludemann's life. Wade always maintained the defense that she acted in self-defense and was scared of the 'bigger' Ludemann.
"We know one thing for sure if she," Assistant State Attorney Lisset Hanewicz told the jury. "If she hadn't brought that knife that night, Sarah would be alive."
In the closing arguments, Wade's attorney Jay Herbert said:
"Think about this for one second," Hebert said. "Take the knife away. What do you think happens that night? They beat the crap out of Rachel Wade. That's what happens. Do they kill her? I don't know. Do they cause her seriously bodily injury? I don't know. Could it have happened? I don't know. (But) they brought the fight to her.
"Rachel had a right to stand her ground and defend herself."
The trial has attracted a lot of media attention and has been emotionally charged since the beginning. The courtroom was packed on Friday to hear the verdict.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (8)
at 12:27 on July 23rd, 2010
Very sad.... I feel really sad for the family of both girls. I am a mother of 2. I can't imagine the pain of the victoms mom. This is so sad all this over a boy! A boy who didn't care about either girl !! So sad...
at 12:36 on July 23rd, 2010
She knew she was guilty everyone knew it. I just hope she don't try to get the insanity plee
at 12:42 on July 23rd, 2010
This is tragic. Rachel Wade had every right to defend herself. She wasn't waiting outside the victim's home or place of work. They tracked her down and started the brawl. I felt that she was justified. Wade panicked and reacted to what she felt was a legitimate threat. As far her demeanor afterward- she was most likely in shock. People don't always respond with what is deemed as appropriate behavior under an high degree of emotional stress. Furthermore the threatening phone calls weren't all that substantial, in my opinion. How often to kids tell their parents that they wish they "would die?" Teenagers are drama queens. If Rachel were planning on carrying out that sort of threat she would have done it back when she placed the phone calls and would have been a little more proactive about it.
at 13:29 on July 23rd, 2010
She said she was going to murder her and she did. She is guilty.
at 10:26 on September 3rd, 2010
You say its becasue she said she was going to murder her, get real, you must be old too. Todays youth blurts this out like its nothing these days but it doesn't mean that they will do that! You are one that has based this soley on a voicemail and not on all of the facts, this girl was tortured by these other girls and she defended herself. They say she brought a knife to a fist fight, well there were six fists to her one knife and they came to her. She was stalked by them and everyone wants to say why didn't she go in and call the police...why.... she went to them many times and they did nothing to help her. Who's to say if she didn't have that knife to defend herself that they wouldn't have killed her! Then everyone would have said well its the police's fault b/c they didn't do anything when she went to them numerous times and these girls were going after her over and over. This is where the justice system fails us, if the police would have stopped this a long time ago then they would both be alive. The parents say they didn't know about this...come on your going to tell me all this is happening; police reports filed and the parents didn't know...bs I would know if my child was doing things against the law. Furthermore she was up the road and if her parents got off their fat lazy butts and walked up there when she didn't come home she would be alive. It happens all the time people are tortured by other kids and when something finally happens to them its poor them why didn't someone help them, why did they do nothing to defend themselves? But if its the bully that gets killed its always well this person is a monster for killing them. She should not be sentenced to jail time, she served her time while being tortured by them!
at 14:10 on July 23rd, 2010
justice has been done! rachel along with everyone else knew she was guilty from the start! if she was so afraid of Sarah, Rachel wouldn't have left those threating voice mails, she wouldn't have walked towards Sarah, and she should of called police insted of leaving! i can almost guarantee Rachel agreed with meeting up with Sarah..if not why else would she be waiting outside with the knife at her side??!!!!
at 22:11 on July 23rd, 2010
this right here had me glued to the t.v.. I felt since wade was at a friends house and the victim went looking for her and actually showed up for combat, it should of been a closed case.(innocent) I couldn't imagine the hurt the parents of the victim are going through but as far as the law goes, i was pretty much going with the self defense plea. if someone comes to u, and attacks you, and gets the shorter end of the stick, that doesn't automatically make the victor a murderer. i understand a knife was used, but it was 3 girls, and the victim was larger and by her going to wades friends house, makes her the aggressor. the sad part? it was all over some low life kid, that prob will never amount to anything in life. teenage girls need a lot of attention, parents need to step in deeper even when the sh!t gets thick. two pretty girls attached at the hip with some fake gang banger doesn't sit right.
at 07:11 on July 24th, 2010
If You Ask Me Neither One Of These Girls Thought Very Highly Of Themselves Or They Would Not Have Thrown Themselves At That Creep. He Certainly Was Not Worth Fighting For. He Looks And Acts Like A JERK . Now Both Girls Have Lost Their Lives While He Continues To Screw More Young Girls Over. Gee is That Justice? This Is Very Sad. These Young Girls Threw Away Their Lives For This Player Joshua Who In My Mind Does NOT Have A Thing Going For Him I Mean Look At Him HE IS NOT EVEN CUTE. What A Waste Of Two Lives.