DELTONA, Fla. – Closing arguments wrapped up on Tuesday in the resentencing trial for two men convicted in the so-called Xbox murders, the deadliest mass murder in Volusia County’s history.
Troy Victorino and Jerone Hunter were convicted of breaking into a Deltona home and beating six people to death with baseball bats and stabbing them in a Deltona home in 2004 in a case that drew national attention.
Both defense teams have rested their cases and it will be up to the jury to decide whether the men will be sentenced to death after closing arguments are delivered.
Prosecutors used graphic testimony to show why they say the men should die for killing the six people and a dog. Prosecutor witnesses said Victorino, who stands 6 feet, 7 inches tall, intimidated Hunter and two other men into joining him in the murders.
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.
Victorino was the mastermind, but Hunter and two other men went inside with him and helped carry it out.
Victorino and Hunter were the only two originally sentenced to death for their roles.
Neither of them have ever testified.
[See coverage of Monday’s hearing below]
“We’ll never know exactly what each of them did inside that house because even today, even to this day, they’re still not telling you the truth about their roles in the murders,” said prosecutor Heatha Trigones in her closing argument.
Victorino and Hunter’s teams are defending them separately, but both are pushing for life in prison.
On Friday, Hunter’s defense team rested its case, and Victorino’s defense team rested its case on Monday, with testimony from his mother.
Victorino is said to have been the mastermind of the murders.
“In order to have peace of mind, I had to stay as far away as I could,” his mother said.
Hunter’s defense team argued that that life in prison without parole is sparing his life but a tougher punishment.
[Watch coverage as Hunter’s defense presents case resentencing trial]
“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 Tim Pribisco, his defense attorney.
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.
[RELATED: Opening statements in resentencing of Florida 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,” Pribisco argued.
[Watch coverage as state rests case in resentencing trial]
Hunter’s team brought in witnesses to argue his mental state at the time and that his upbringing was rough, hoping to convince this jury to spare him.
[Watch coverage from day 3 of the resentencing trial below]
The two other men involved in the crimes were Michael Salas, whose testimony was read, was found guilty of murder, while another co-defendant, Robert Cannon, pleaded guilty. Both are serving life sentences.
[Watch coverage from day 2 of the resentencing trial below]
Jury selection had started in April 2023 in the resentencing of Victorino and Hunter 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.
[Watch video below for previous coverage of the case]