VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – A resentencing trial for two men convicted in a gruesome murder in Deltona nearly 20 years ago is scheduled to begin this week.
A jury was seated last week and resentencing proceedings are expected to begin Tuesday for Troy Victorino and Jerone Hunter, two of four suspects who beat six people and a dog to death inside a home in August 2004.
A motions hearing previously scheduled for Monday did not take place. Two motions were filed to disqualify Judge Randall Rowe and to use the new statutory death penalty sentencing procedures.
Victorino and Hunter were originally sentenced to death, but the sentences were later overturned because the jury’s decision wasn’t unanimous.
However, Gov. Ron DeSantis recently signed a bill eliminating a requirement for unanimous jury recommendations before judges can impose death sentences. The new law took effect immediately and represents a major change in Florida’s death-penalty system.
The victims, all friends, died from blunt force trauma to their heads after being hit several times, a medical examiner said. Their bodies were also cut and stabbed, according to authorities.
The crime became known as the Xbox murders because the accused mastermind, Victorino, had gone to the house to get his XBox and other items after he was caught squatting in the home.
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