By Lisa Redmond
Lowell Sun
VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — A 35-year-old man on death row in Florida for the 2004 slaying of six people, including two from the Lowell area, has had his claim denied that he should have his conviction overturned due to the ineffectiveness of his former defense attorneys.
In a ruling last week, Volusia County Circuit Judge William A. Parsons denied a motion by Troy Victorino and his appeals attorney, Chris Anderson, that Victorino’s trial attorney provided ineffective assistance of counsel on 17 points, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
In his 26-page ruling, the judge he even praised Victorino’s trial lawyers writing, “In this case the attorneys employed a sound and thoughtful trial strategy that cannot form the basis of an ineffective claim.’'
On Aug. 6, 2004, Victorino led Jerone Hunter, Robert Cannon and Michael Salas to 3106 Telford Lane in Deltona, Fla. The group kicked in the door and, armed with bats and knives stabbed and bludgeoned the six people and a dog who were sleeping inside.
Killed in the slaughter were Erin Belanger, 22, originally of Nashua, and her boyfriend Francisco “Flaco” Ayo-Roman, 30, of Lowell, along with Roberto “Tito” Gonzalez, 28, Michelle Nathan, 19, Anthony Vega, 34, and Jonathan Gleason, 17.
Local officials said the killings were triggered by a dispute over a $150 X-box video-game system and a box of clothes the killers had left behind.
Belanger kicked them out of her grandparents’ house when she discovered they were squatters.
After their 2006 trial, Victorino and Hunter were sentenced to die for the murders. The two other co-defendants, Salas and Cannon, were sentenced to life in prison.
Victorino ‘s former defense attorneys Jeff Dowdy and Mike Nielsen testified during the appeals hearing. Part of the appeal questioned why the defense didn’t object to gruesome crime-scene photographs and comments made by the prosecutors, which included then-state Attorney John Tanner.
The lawyers said they did object to the photos, which were limited to certain images by a court order.
Also questioned is their use of an alibi. Victorino claimed he was at a nightclub at the time of the killings — which the jury found unbelievable.
Copyright 2012 MediaNews Group, Inc.
All Rights Reserved