VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – An appeals court on Thursday stopped the resentencing trial for two men who were found guilty and sentenced to death in the brutal murders of six people and a dog in a Deltona home almost 19 years ago.
The Fifth District Court of Appeals granted the state’s emergency motion to halt the trial for Troy Victorino, 46, and Jerone Hunter, 36, who had their sentences overturned because the jury’s decision was not unanimous.
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It’s not known how long the stay will be in place, but the judge said, “We’re still in trial. We’re just paused.” He then told the jury to continue to follow his order to not research or discuss the case.
The court’s decision comes as the state argued over Florida’s new death penalty law, which no longer requires a unanimous jury decision.
The state requested that the new law, which requires eight of 12 jurors to determine a death sentence, be used at the resentencing trial, but the judge in the case denied the request earlier this week because the jury had been chosen before the new law took effect.
The state then filed the emergency motion.
The “Xbox murders” epithet came into being because Victorino, regarded as the crime’s mastermind, went to the home to retrieve his Xbox after being caught squatting there.
All six victims were friends who died from blunt force trauma to their heads, with cut and stab wounds also observed, according to a medical examiner and authorities at the resentencing trial.
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