VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – The resentencing trial of two convicted killers in the so-called Xbox murders, the deadliest mass murder in Volusia County’s history, continued on Friday.
Troy Victorino and Jerone Hunter were convicted of breaking into a Deltona home in 2004 and beating six people to death with baseball bats, as well as stabbing them, in a case that drew national attention. Prosecutors rested their case Wednesday, using graphic testimony to show why the men should die for killing the six people and a dog.
On Friday, Hunter’s defense team rested its case, and Victorino’s team was scheduled to begin. Victorino is said to have been the mastermind of the murders.
His team argued that that life in prison without parole is sparing his life but a tougher punishment.
“We want to make it clear that we acknowledge that the sentence that we seek to impose provides a chance at life that Mr. Victorino took from his victims,” said his defense attorney, Tim Pribisco.
Victorino, Hunter and two other men beat and stabbed six people and a dog to death at a Deltona home in 2004. Victorino had been squatting in one of the victim’s houses, got kicked out, but left items behind that he was upset he had not gotten back, including an Xbox, leading to the case being coined the Xbox murders.
“His lack of treatment for his mental illness which persisted since childhood, his exposure to physical and sexual abuse leading to his own substance abuse ultimately resulted in the human being Troy Victorino,” argued Pribisco.
Earlier this week, prosecutor witnesses said Victorino, who stands six feet seven inches tall, intimidated hunter and the two other men into joining him in the murders. Victorino and Hunter were the only two originally sentenced to death for their roles.
Victorino’s team is expected to rest its case early next week, with the case then going to the jury for deliberation soon after.
Thursday saw dramatic testimony at the trial. Hunter’s defense team argued he was intimidated by Victorino, whom they accused of being the mastermind.
“At every turn Troy Victorino planned this, told everybody what to do,” Hunter’s attorney Garry Wood said during his opening statement.
[Watch coverage as Hunter’s defense presents case resentencing trial]
His team said when Hunter met Victorino at 17 years old, Victorino — who was 10 years older than Hunter — took him in.
Hunter had just turned 18 in 2004 when he, Victorino and two other men killed the six people and the dog. Victorino had been squatting in one of the victim’s houses and got kicked out. An Xbox was among the items he left behind and was upset about not getting back.
Of the two other men, Michael Salas — whose testimony was read — was found guilty of murder while another co-defendant, Robert Cannon, pleaded guilty. Both are serving life sentences.
“After I asked him if he had any remorse, he said that he went home, took a shower, read his Bible and went to sleep,” said a defense witness, Eunice Miller.
[Watch coverage as state rests case in resentencing trial]
Victorino and Hunter were the only two originally sentenced to death, but a change in state law gave their attorneys a change to argue for life in prison instead.
Jury selection in the resentencing of Victorino and Hunter began in April 2023 when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new death-penalty law which eliminated a requirement for unanimous jury recommendations before defendants could be sentenced to death. Under the law, death sentences can be imposed after 8-4 jury recommendations.