Two men were sentenced to death for a Central Florida mass murder in which they broke into a Deltona home, stabbed six people, and beat a dog to death with baseball bats.
Defendants Troy Victorino and Jerone Hunter were sentenced to death at a recent hearing.
Earlier this year, a Volusia County jury voted to sentence Troy Victorino and Jerone Hunter to death on all counts for the county’s bloodiest mass murder in history.
In 2004, Victorino and Hunter, now 48 and 39, went into a Deltona residence and used baseball bats to stab and beat six people and a dog to death.
They were convicted and condemned to death for the crimes in 2006. Their co-defendants, Michael Salas and Robert Cannon, have been condemned to life in prison.
While Victorino’s and Hunter’s convictions stood, their death sentences were overturned in 2018 when Florida courts mandated unanimous jury recommendations in death penalty cases.
On April 20, 2023, a jury was seated to resentence the accused. However, on the same day, Governor Ron DeSantis passed legislation establishing a new non-unanimous sentence standard of 8-4 in capital trials, resulting in a mistrial.
A new jury was seated in April for this resentencing, and the proceedings were carried out in accordance with the new statute.
“It is a sad reality that death penalty cases drag on for decades,” State Attorney R.J. Larizza said about the case. “The families of our six victims have suffered over and over again due to numerous appeals requiring new court proceedings. Perhaps now the defendants’ death warrants will be signed and carried out expeditiously.”
Heatha Trigones and Andrew Urbanak, Assistant State Attorneys, successfully argued for the death penalty on behalf of the state. The Honorable Dawn Nichols ruled over the case and delivered the sentence.