DELTONA, Fla. – A jury recommended the death penalty once again in the resentencing trial for two men convicted in the so-called Xbox murders, the deadliest mass murder in Volusia County’s history.
The jury began deliberations Wednesday to decide whether they will be sentenced to death.
Troy Victorino, 48, and Jerone Hunter, 38, 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 sides wrapped up closing arguments Tuesday afternoon.
The state argued Victorino and Hunter should head to death row for beating and stabbing six people and a dog to death.
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 out the attack.
Victorino and Hunter were the only two originally sentenced to death. Neither of them have ever testified.
“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,” prosecutor Heatha Trigones said in her closing argument.
Victorino and Hunter’s teams are defending them separately, but both are pushing for life in prison.
Hunter’s team said he was intimidated by Victorino into joining.
“Mr. Victorino is talking about a plan to get inside the house, Mr. Victorino is holding a gun,” his attorney Garry Wood said.
Victorino’s team argued that he should be spared death due to a history of mental health issues.
“The person that would be executed is not the Troy from 2004. That person is dead. That is the person — the person we hope you’ve come to know,” his defense attorney Beth Sammons said.
The two other men involved in the crimes were Michael Salas, whose testimony was read at the resentencing trial. He was found guilty of murder, while another co-defendant, Robert Cannon, pleaded guilty. Both are serving life sentences.
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]