Sunshine Sentinel

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody’s Office of Statewide Prosecution secured the death penalty for a man convicted of sexual battery and murder. In January, a court found Steven Wolf guilty of performing a gruesome sexual battery using a large object that resulted in blunt force trauma, and murder of a Marathon woman. The Honorable Judge Mark H. Jones of the 16th Judicial Circuit sentenced Wolf to death for first-degree murder. 

Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “This heinous individual gruesomely sexually assaulted and murdered a woman. The judge said that ‘he has forfeited his right to live among us.’ My Statewide Prosecutors diligently pursued this case, and I am glad this monster will never walk free again.”

Judge Jones sentenced Wolf to death yesterday for the first-degree murder of a woman. Wolf is also convicted on two counts of sexual battery.  

The judge states in the sentencing document: “In balance, the aggravating factors outweigh the mitigating circumstances by an overwhelming margin which means the scales of justice tip unquestionably to the side of death. The murder of Michelle Osbourne is among the ‘worst of the worst’ making it one of those cases for which the death penalty is reserved…[Wolf] has not only forfeited [his] right to live among us, but under the laws of Florida, [he] has forfeited [his] right to live at all.”

The court previously found Wolf guilty of the heinous crime in January, where the jury unanimously voted to recommend the death penalty based on several aggravating factors. These factors include the gruesome nature of the crime and Wolf’s previous violent felony conviction for second-degree murder. 

The investigation, conducted by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, uncovered that Wolf used a large object to sexually batter the victim, causing blunt force trauma, and strangled the woman before dumping the body. To learn more about the case, click here.

Attorney General Moody’s Assistant Statewide Prosecutors Cass Castillo and Cristina Castillo prosecuted the case.

Original source can be found here.