Husband admits to killing

Wife was stabbed at home in 2007

RALEIGH -- Jakiem Wilson admitted killing his 24-year-old wife, the mother of their two children, Tuesday, hoping his courtroom concession will help him face lesser charges in Wake County's first death-penalty case of the year.

Wilson, 24, faces first-degree murder charges in the 2007 slaying that took place just before Valentine's Day. Lawyers began seating jurors immediately after Wilson assured Superior Court Judge Henry Hight that he understood his actions.

On Feb. 13, 2007, Wilson called a 911 dispatcher and reported, sobbing, that he had just returned home to find the door kicked open, his wife, Nneka Wilson, dead, and a threatening message written in her blood on the floor.

Search warrants later uncovered blood in several rooms of their Wendell house, along with evidence that the Wilsons had fought. Autopsy reports showed Nneka Wilson had been stabbed in the chest and neck. There were defensive wounds on her arm.

Wilson was charged with first-degree murder shortly after making the emergency call, and a Wake County prosecutor later said in court that Wilson called two friends to help him cover up the slaying. Two teens, Roderick Ryan Howell and Jamie Russell Holder, were charged with accessory after the fact to a felony.

Early Tuesday, Wilson conceded to causing his wife's death -- a legal procedure that essentially says he agrees with a portion of the first-degree murder charge.

His attorneys hope to show that he did not plan the killing, think about it ahead of time or commit it with a cool head.

If Wilson is convicted of first-degree murder, jurors would choose between the death penalty and life in prison. Under second-degree or manslaughter charges, death would be off the table and lesser prison time could be given.

The last defendant a Wake jury sent to death row was Byron Waring in July, for the murder of Lauren Redman.

Jury selection is expected to take two weeks in Wilson's case. Evidence will not be presented until June 30, and the trial is expected to last two weeks.