VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – After years of appeals, mistrials and changes to Florida’s death penalty law, a Volusia County judge on Monday resentenced two men to death for the brutal murders of six people and a dog in a Deltona home in 2004.
Troy Victorino and Jerone Hunter were convicted in the murders of six people in a Deltona home in a case that drew national attention. Both men didn’t show any reaction to the sentences.
The judge opened the hearing by acknowledging the decades of litigation and work poured into the case by both legal teams.
“I know it’s been long. It’s been arduous,” the judge said. “But this group of lawyers that I’ve had the privilege of working with have been professional, diligent, and thank you for all of that… the hard work that everybody’s put in is much appreciated by the court.”
The case became known as the “Xbox murders” because it involved a dispute about some of Victorino’s belongings, including an Xbox video-game system.
Victorino, Hunter and two other men broke into the house and bludgeoned the victims with baseball bats.
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The resentencing was required due to changes in Florida’s death penalty laws, which allowed defendants to seek new sentencing hearings.
Both men were originally sentenced to death in 2006, but that was overturned in 2017 when the Florida Supreme Court ruled a jury must be unanimous when it recommends the death penalty.
In 2023, resentencing for the two men ended in a mistrial after the law changed mid-trial when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new death-penalty law, which eliminated a requirement for unanimous jury recommendations before defendants could be sentenced to death. Under the law, death sentences can be imposed after 8-4 jury recommendations.
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The judge on Monday began with Jerome Hunter, reaffirming the death penalty for four of the six victims killed in the Deltona home on Aug. 6, 2004.
“The jury unanimously found that all five aggravating factors were proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” the judge said.
The court found those aggravating factors included:
- Hunter’s conviction of other violent felonies
- The murders were committed during a burglary
- The crimes were committed to avoid lawful arrest
- The killings were “heinous, atrocious, or cruel”
- The murders were “cold, calculated, and premeditated”
After weighing those factors against the mitigation presented by the defense, the judge agreed with the jury’s unanimous recommendation.
Hunter was ordered to be transported to the Florida Department of Corrections to be held on death row. He has 30 days to appeal, and the sentence will undergo an automatic review by the Florida Supreme Court.
The judge then resentenced Victorino, the ringleader prosecutors say orchestrated the attack.
The jury unanimously found six aggravating factors beyond a reasonable doubt. The court agreed that at least five of those factors applied, including that Victorino:
- Was on felony probation at the time
- Had been convicted of other violent felonies
- Committed the murders during a burglary
- Acted in a manner that was heinous, atrocious, or cruel
- Carried out the killings in a “cold, calculated, and premeditated” way
“After careful consideration, the court agrees with the jury’s recommendation that Mr. Victorino be sentenced to death,” the judge said.
The judge ordered Victorino to be transferred to death row as well and advised him of the same appellate rights as Hunter.
Co-defendants Michael Salas and Robert Cannon received life sentences.
Defense attorneys for both men said they plan to appeal the new death sentences to the Florida Supreme Court.