Jury recommends death sentences for 2 killers in Deltona Xbox murders

Jurors have recommended four death sentences each for Jerone Hunter and Troy Victorino in the Deltona mass killing known as the Xbox murders.

Victorino, 48, and Hunter, 38, were sentenced to death in 2006 for the 2004 mass murder at a home on Telford Lane in Deltona where the victims beaten to death with baseball bats.

While their convictions stood, their death sentences were later struck down. Two others who participated in the killings, Michael Salas and Robert Cannon, were sentenced to life in prison.

Killed in the massacre were Erin Belanger, 22; Michelle Nathan, 19; Roberto “Tito” Gonzalez, 28; Jonathan Gleason, 17; Francisco “Flaco” Ayo-Roman, 30; and Anthony Vega, 34. A dog was also killed.

At least eight of the 12 jurors had to recommend death for the judge to have that option. Otherwise, the person must be sentenced to life. The judge is not required to follow a jury’s death recommendation but must give it great weight.

Victorino, who was angered because some of his property, including an Xbox gaming system, had been taken from another house where he had been squatting, was the ringleader in the attack, investigators said.

The four armed themselves with metal bats and on Aug. 6, 2004, went up to the house on Telford Lane where the six young people lived. Victorino and his group beat them with the metal bats, leaving shattered skulls, broken bodies and bloodied walls.

Attorneys argue for life or death in Xbox murder resentencing

Prosecutors Heatha Trigones and Andrew Urbanak called for Victorino and Hunter to be sentenced to death, listing a number of aggravating circumstances they said justified their execution. Each was convicted of six counts of first-degree murder.

Victorino was free on bond for a parole violation when he committed the murders. He had already been convicted of brutally beating another man with a cane several years earlier.

Defense attorneys for Victorino, Beth Sammons and Tim Pribisco presented mitigating circumstances including that Victorino suffered sexual abuse as a child and suffered from a mental health illness and attempted suicide as a child.

Defense attorneys for Hunter, Garry Wood and Antonio Tomas, told jurors about mitigating circumstances, claiming Hunter was under the domination of Victorino. They said Hunter’s family had a history of mental illness. And Hunter’s twin brother died when he was about 5 months old and Hunter continued having conversations with his dead brother.

Jury recommendations in 2006 Xbox murder trial

In 2006, jurors recommended death for Victorino by a vote of 10-2 for Belanger’s murder; 10-2 for Ayo-Roman’s; 9-3 for Gonzalez’s; and 7-5 for Gleason’s. They recommended life for the murders of Nathan and Vega.

Jurors recommended Hunter get a death sentence for Gleason’s murder by a vote of 10-2; for Gonzalez’s murder by a vote of 9-3; for Nathan’s murder by a vote of 10-2; and for Vega’s murder by 9-3. Jurors recommended life sentences for Belanger’s and Ayo-Roman’s murders.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Deltona Xbox murderers facing death penalty following verdict