Jerone Hunter and Troy Victorino were both sentenced to death by electric chair or lethal injection in 2006, the third man received a life sentence without parole.

Hunter's attorney argued earlier this week that his client should be spared from execution because he was acting under the "domination" of Victorino, that he had no prior criminal record and suffers from schizophrenia.

The supreme court will make their decision at a later date, but I'd like to think that this is just the last desperate attempt of a vicious killer to escape his just punishment and that the court will be quick in crushing this man's last hopes.

For those of you who don't recall the case, Victorino was angry because one of the victims took his Xbox and clothing from her grandparents vacant home, where he had been squatting, so he crept into her home and bludgeoned her and five others to death with baseball bats as they lay sleeping in bed.

Supreme Court hears death sentence appeal in Xbox slayings [AP]

Two of the attackers in the now infamous "xbox murders" were sentenced to death today for their involvement in the slaughter of six people in a Florida home in 2004.

A judge sentenced Troy Victorino, 29, and Jeone Hunter, 20, to death by electric chair or lethal injection. (It will be the last decisions of their lives.)

Victorino oranizad the attack with the help of three men, including Hunter, to retrieve an Xbox. The six victims were beaten to death with baseball bats as they lay sleeping in their home. Police found blood on the floor, walls and ceiling of the home during their investigaiton.

The defense used the, very typical, mental illness defense, but it didn't hold water for the jury who found them guilty and recommended the death sentence.

And yes, that is the actual chair used in Florida. Brian Crecente

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A judge delivered death sentences Thursday to the
ringleader and a participant in the bloody beating deaths of six people over
an Xbox video game system.

Troy Victorino, 29, and Jerone Hunter, 20, were sentenced by Chief Circuit
Judge Bill Parsons after their convictions on first-degree murder for the
2004 slaughter of six people in a Deltona house.

Neither man showed emotion when the verdicts were read.

A jury recommended death for both Hunter and the 6-foot-7, 270-pound
Victorino, but the final decision of life in prison without parole or death
rested with Parsons.

The judge noted that blood was found on the floors, ceilings and walls of
the house where the six victims were found.

"The victims were not only killed, they were brutalized," Parsons said. "It
was a revenge killing by Hunter and Victorino. The murders were performed in
a cool, calm, calculated manner."

Victorino organized the attacks with Hunter and two other younger men to
retrieve the video game system and other belongings after he was kicked out
of a house in which he was squatting. Defense attorneys for the three other
men found guilty painted him as a manipulative, menacing figure that
threatened the others if they refused to participate.

The six victims suffered blows to the head causing severe skull fractures
and brain injury, a medical examiner determined. Several of the bodies were
also mutilated with stab wounds and cuts after death, and some victims were
missing most of their teeth.

The judge ignored previous arguments by Hunter's attorney Ed Mills, who had
argued his client should not receive the death penalty because he suffers
from schizophrenia.

Jeff Dowdy, Victorino's attorney, had asked Parsons to spare his client
because he has mental problems and was abused as a child.

First Assistant State Attorney David R. Smith said, "We are pleased and
grateful with the victory and the death sentence."

Michael Salas and Robert Anthony Cannon, both 20, were sentenced to life in
prison without the possibility of parole for their involvement. Cannon had
pleaded guilty and agreed to testify for the prosecution, but declared his
innocence at trial and refused to answer questions.

Killed were Erin Belanger, 22; Michelle Nathan, 19; Francisco Ayo-Roman, 30;
Anthony Vega, 34; Roberto Gonzalez, 28, and Jonathan Gleason, 17. Many of
the victims worked at a Burger King in Deltona.

About 30 family members of the victims attended the hearings, many hugging
each other as the sentences were read.

"I just never want them to walk the streets again, just to stay there
forever and ever so they can't be around to do this to other people,"
Nathan's mother, Kay Shukwit, said. "They're going to get what they
deserve."

Gleason's mother said she expected Hunter and Victorino to be sentenced to
death but she was frustrated that they would have the opportunity to file
appeals, possibly spending years on death row.

"I'm not satisfied because I feel my son died, but nothing is coming out of
it. This is just a step in the process," Patricia Gleason said. "Justice is
not swift. It's a total and absolute joke. Here is your punishment, but we
don't mean it."

Hunter's parents also attended his sentencing hearing, but declined to speak
with reporters as they left the courtroom.

Xbox Killers Sentenced [Thanks Cliff]

This is the stuff urban legends and horror movies are made of: four young hobos in Florida, one with a hilarious tanline, murdered a house full of defenseless people in order to recover an Xbox taken from their illegal squat:

That enraged Victorino and he enlisted the other three suspects to help him carry out the attacks, prosecutors say. A Wal-Mart clerk has told investigators the four men joked about bashing people to death while shopping for baseball bats two days before the slayings.

The victims were beaten to death and then stabbed, probably "just to make sure". Two small dogs at the house were also murdered. The worst part? It wasn't even a 360.

The trial has come to be known as "The Xbox Murders" and as Florida news site News4Jax reports, jurors are currently being chosen from a pool of 1,000.

The actual murders occurred two years ago, but I figured it was worth a mention because we may soon hear, particularly from the defense team, that "video games made them do it." It is notable that the news site I quoted says absolutely nothing about Xbox in this article except that it was the key item in the case. No damning, anti-games nonsense. Just clean reporting.

Thanks for the tip, Cliff.Eliza Gauger

Read more [News4Jax]