ORLANDO, Fla. – Two teens charged in connection with the beating death of a 15-year-old boy in Winter Park were found guilty of manslaughter and battery.
Closing arguments were delivered Wednesday in the trial of Jesse Sutherland and Simeon Hall, who are accused of fatally punching 15-year-old Roger Trindade in 2016. They were charged as adults.
The duo turned down a plea deal Friday offered by the state attorney's office.
The jury deliberated for more than five hours before finding both 16-year-old boys guilty of manslaughter and two counts of battery.
Sentencing is set for June 15. The maximum sentence they could face is 17 years each, if the judge sentences them as adults. If they are sentenced as youthful offenders the penalty would not be as long.
The prosecution wrapped up calling witnesses Tuesday, and the defense team didn't call anyone to the stand.
Trindade was found unconscious on the night of Oct. 15, 2016, in the popular Winter Park shopping and dining area near Central Park. He later died after being taken off life support.
A 15-year-old boy was also charged in the case with witness tampering took the stand. He was sentenced in February to a less restrictive detention program.
The teen testified that he saw Sutherland hit Trindade and Trindade's friend.
Several other teenagers who were with Sutherland and Hall the night Trindade was fatally hit also testified about what they saw.
Testimony from the young witnesses varied. Some said Hall threw the first punch, and others said Sutherland did.
Attorneys for both defendants relied on that conflicting testimony to attempt to cast a shadow of doubt during closing statements Wednesday morning.
"I'm not sure you know exactly what happened because it was pretty confusing. What we do know is a tragedy occurred," Hall's attorney, David Fussell, said.
A Winter Park police detective said Sutherland told him that he punched Trindade.
Sutherland's attorney, Danielle Barbato, said her client thought he was defending his friends.
"I just want to remind everyone this is a case of a split-second decision by a 15-year-old who thought he was helping his friends," Barbato said.
State prosecutors disagreed.
"Words have meaning. This was not a fight. This was an attack," Assistant State Attorney Theresa Mills-Uvalle said.
After two days of testimony from witnesses for the state, lawyers for the defendants said they wouldn't testify, and both parties rested their cases.