Zephen Xaver He was formally sentenced to death for shooting and killing five women at a Sebring bank on January 23, 2019.
After a two-week trial, a jury voted 9-3 in June to recommend the death penalty for Xaver, 27, who remained expressionless as Circuit Judge Angela Cowden handed down the sentence at the Highlands County Courthouse in Sebring. .
The judge cited the defendant’s weeks of planning before committing the 2019 murders at SunTrust Bank in Sebring, the scale of the crime and the terror that the victims experienced when they were shot as reasons for their decision.
Cowden added that these factors far outweighed the two dozen mitigating arguments presented by his lawyers, including his history of mental health, a benign brain tumor and his alleged acceptance of Christianity while in prison.
Before the sentence was handed down, Marisol Lopez’s daughter and Debra Cook’s husband, two of the victims addressed the court and told how the murders have affected their lives.
Lopez’s daughter called Xaver a coward and said: “You will always be a waste of human lives”. For his part, Cook’s husband added that if he were allowed to flip the switch against Xaver himself, he could do it.
Xaver pleaded guilty last year to five counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Cynthia Watsona 65-year-old client; Marisol Lopez55 years old, bank teller coordinator; Ana Pinon-Williams38 years old, banker’s apprentice; Debra Cook54 years old, cashier; and Jessica Montague31 years old, banker.
At gunpoint, Xaver forced the women to the ground and shot each of them in the head as they pleaded for their lives, the AP reported.
Who is Zephen Xaver?
Xaver was born and raised in Indiana and spent his childhood traveling back and forth between his mother’s house and his father’s house.
His mother described him as a normal child until he became a teenager. However, during the court proceedings, several testified that Xaver had claimed who had suicidal tendencies since he was 9 years old and murderers since they were 12.
He received therapy regularly and had been to behavioral health centers several times. Former teachers who took the stand during his sentencing trial described Xaver as calm and polite, but recalled that he did not do his homework.
The counselors who testified said that the defendant was failing all of his classes and He was expelled from a school for writing a threatening note to a teacher.
Enrolling in another school, Xaver made almost daily trips to the school nurse complaining of being tired and anxious.
A former school nurse testified that Xaver told her his morning medication made him sleepy, but others who testified said he liked to stay up all night playing video games.
His former school nurse testified that he was often allowed to take a nap before returning to class. When he woke up from one of those naps in 2014, he told the school nurse that He had had a dream in which he barricaded everyone in the school and started killing his classmates. of class.
Why does this sentence stand out?
The Xaver trial was one of the first high-profile cases in Florida where death penalty sentence no longer depends on unanimous verdict of the jury.
Florida lawmakers made the change in 2023, shortly after jurors spared the life of school shooter Marjory Stoneman Douglas in a 9-3 decision.
Florida law now states that A defendant can be sentenced to death if at least 8 of 12 jurors recommend execution.
State Attorney Brian Haas says all five of the victims’ families support the request for the death penalty in this case.
“I think the change in the law was necessary,” said April Nelson, daughter of victim Cynthia Watson. “I don’t think it should be up to one jury to make a decision on an entire case where maybe there were 12 and maybe one person sat out. I don’t think one person should be in control of that.. I am happy with the new change in the law. “I think it’s fair.”
Michael Cook, the husband of victim Debra Cook, said: “I agree with the change in the law. I like it not only for this case, but because it stops deadlocks. Because a person doesn’t have to question a jury or anything, but a person could be obviously guilty and deserve the death penalty, but a jury could think they’re against the death penalty and not be in favor of it.”
Keep reading:
– Death penalty for Texas man who murdered, dismembered and burned the bodies of three people.
– A man is sentenced to life in prison for the terrible murder of his girlfriend in the Nevada desert.