Two men were sentenced to death for a Central Florida mass murder where they broke into a Deltona home, stabbed and beat six people and a dog to death with baseball bats.
Defendants Troy Victorino and Jerone Hunter were sentenced to death during a recent hearing.
Earlier this year, a Volusia County jury voted in favor of the death penalty on all counts for Troy Victorino and Jerone Hunter for the deadliest mass murder in Volusia County history.
In 2004, Victorino and Hunter, now 48 and 39, broke into a Deltona home, stabbed and beat six people and a dog to death with baseball bats.
They were convicted and originally sentenced to death for the murders in 2006. Their two co-defendants, Michael Salas and Robert Cannon, were sentenced to life in prison.
While Victorino and Hunter’s convictions stood, their death sentences were nullified in 2018 after Florida Courts began requiring unanimous jury recommendations in death penalty cases.
On April 20, 2023, a jury was seated for the resentencing of the defendants. However, on the very same day, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill authorizing a new non-unanimous sentencing standard of 8-4 in capital cases, which caused a mistrial.
A new jury was seated in April for this resentencing and proceeded under the new law.
“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.”
Assistant State Attorneys Heatha Trigones and Andrew Urbanak successfully argued for the death penalty for the state. The Honorable Dawn Nichols presided over the case and pronounced sentence.
