Supreme Court hears death sentence appeal in Xbox slayings
By Bill Kaczor
Associated Press Writer / May 5, 2008

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Three men convicted of killing six people with baseball bats over an Xbox video game system -- including one with ties to New Hampshire -- should have been tried separately, a lawyer for one told the Florida Supreme Court on Monday.
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That was one of several arguments made on behalf of Jerone Hunter, 21. He's one of two men sentenced to death for the 2004 massacre at a Deltona home. The third man received a life sentence without parole.

His lawyer, Ryan Truskoski, also said Hunter should be spared from execution because he acted under domination of a ringleader, had no prior criminal record and suffers from schizophrenia.

"He emotionally is a child," Truskoski said. "He definitely heard voices."

The Supreme Court, which hears all death sentence appeals, will rule at a later date.

Investigators said ringleader Troy Victorino, 31, also sentenced to death, was angry because a victim -- 22-year-old Erin Belanger, whose father lives in Nashua -- took his Xbox and clothing from her grandparents' vacant home, where he had been squatting.

The third man convicted at trial and a fourth who pleaded guilty received sentences of life in prison without parole, the only alternative to death for first-degree murder.

Hunter, who was 18 when the killings took place, should have been tried separately because the older 6-foot-7, 240-pound Victorino, a "big guy, dominating guy, violent felon," had intimidated him into participating, Truskoski said.

Defendant Michael Salas, 22, offered similar reasoning during the trial in Daytona Beach. Victorino, however, denied during testimony he had anything to do with the killings. He said he was drinking with friends at a restaurant at the time of the killings.

Assistant attorney General Kenneth Nunnelley defended Circuit Judge Bill Parsons' decision to try the three men together, saying they didn't begin pointing fingers at each other until after the state had presented its case.

The fourth defendant, Robert Anthony Cannon, 22, initially agreed to testify against the others but at trial he declared his innocence and refused to answer questions. His request to withdraw his guilty plea was denied and he received a life sentence without parole.

Nunnelley acknowledged Victorino was the driving force in the slaughter but argued that was insufficient reason to overturn Hunter's conviction or four death sentences.

"Mr. Hunter, the trial court found, was not a recalcitrant participant once he decided to sign on for what was going on," Nunnelley said. "And what was going on amounted to a SWAT team assault on this house."

http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2008/05/05/supreme_court_hears_death_sentence_appeal_in_xbox_slayings/