Had he accepted a plea agreement offered to him ahead of his 2017 trial, Aaron Wanless would in all likelihood be a free man today.
A Fort Lauderdale attorney has laid the blame for Wanless’ continued incarceration at the feet of the public defender who represented him. He filed a motion June 20 calling on Okaloosa County Circuit Court Judge William Stone to “vacate, set aside or correct” a sentence that, as it stands, would leave Wanless imprisoned until 2042.
The Air Force veteran was battling post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental illnesses in April 2015 when he threatened his father with a knife and then fired a gun in the general direction of Okaloosa County sheriff’s deputies.