Jury selection starts for Deltona mass murder trial

WFTV:

The Deltona mass murder is considered one of the worst crimes in Central Florida history. Wednesday, three of the men accused of killing six people in August of 2004 began facing justice.

Jury selection began Wednesday in the case against Troy Victorino, Jerone Hunter and Michael Salas. The trial was moved to St. Augustine because lawyers were unable to pick an unbiased jury in Volusia County.

Lawyers expect to talk to around 1,000 jurors before they have a full panel. The questioning began Wednesday morning for the first 30 perspective jurors.

This is the second try at finding a jury for the case. Two months ago, they tried to empanel a jury in Volusia County, but gave up after three days. The judge decided to move the trial to St. Augustine, hoping that the population there knows less about the crime.

It was a different look from Victorino, Salas and Hunter on Wednesday. They were wearing coats and ties instead of the jail jumpsuits that they had been wearing for the past two years.

The three are accused of beating six people to death in Deltona in August of 2004. A fourth man already pled guilty.

The three defendants face more than a dozen charges.

Defense lawyers were optimistic. They think they can have a jury by early next week.

Victorino, Salas and Hunter were being tried together. The fourth suspect, Robert Cannon, is expected to testify against the others.

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