VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – The man who killed three women in Daytona Beach was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Wednesday night.
Robert Hayes, 39, was convicted on Feb. 22 of murdering Laquetta Gunther, Julie Green and Iwana Patton in 2005-06 in Daytona Beach.
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Closing arguments have finished in the penalty phase for the Robert Hayes trial. It's now in the jury's hands of whether or not they'll recommend the death penalty. He was found guilty of murdering three women in Daytona Beach in 2005-2006. @news6wkmg pic.twitter.com/QwUFC1MWsn
— Molly Reed (@Mollyreednews) March 2, 2022
The trial began Feb. 11, with prosecutors inviting experts and witnesses who took the stand, such as the owner of a gun store where Hayes bought a firearm in 2005, building a timeline to link him to the three murders.
In 2019, Hayes was indicted for first-degree murder in the 2016 death of Rachel Elizabeth Bey in Palm Beach County, whose body was found disposed of similarly to the three women he was convicted of killing a decade beforehand. Prosecutors said DNA evidence linked all four women to Hayes, accused of sexually battering them before shooting them and dumping their bodies in secluded areas.
During the trial, the defense took issue with accusations beyond Hayes’ sexual relations with the women, claiming there was no evidence Hayes was holding a gun at the time of the victims’ deaths and calling it “circumstantial” that bullets of the same caliber were used to kill Gunther, Green and Patton.
The prosecution was seeking the death penalty.