Zephen Xaver pleaded responsible final yr to homicide. Photo / AP
Zephen Xaver walked right into a central Florida bank in 2019, fatally shot five women and then known as police to inform them what he did. Now 12 jurors will resolve whether or not the 27-year-old former jail guard trainee is sentenced to demise or life with out parole.
Jury choice is scheduled to start on Monday in the sentencing trial after quite a few delays brought on by the pandemic, authorized wrangling and legal professional sickness.
Xaver pleaded responsible final yr to five counts of first-degree homicide for the January 23, 2019, massacre at the SunTrust Bank in Sebring, about 135km southeast of Tampa. The trial will solely resolve Xaver’s sentence.
Opening statements are anticipated in two weeks, with the trial lasting about two months.
His victims included buyer Cynthia Watson, 65, who had been married lower than a month; bank teller coordinator Marisol Lopez, 55, who was a mom of two; banker trainee Ana Pinon-Williams, a 38-year-old mom of seven; bank teller Debra Cook, a 54-year-old mom of two and a grandmother; and banker Jessica Montague, 31, a mom of 1 and stepmother of 4.
Michael Cook stated he hopes his spouse’s killer will get the demise penalty and described being very annoyed by the years of delays. The trial was set to start a minimum of two different occasions, however was postponed.
“I have purposely not asked too many questions because I don’t want to get more frustrated and angry,” Cook stated. He plans to attend the trial.
Lead prosecutor Paul Wallace and lead defence legal professional Jane McNeill each declined to remark.
Prosecutors are anticipated to argue Xaver deserves the demise penalty as a result of the killings had been chilly, merciless, heinous and deliberate. Xaver’s attorneys are anticipated to cite what they’ve described as his years-long psychological well being issues as they search leniency.
Under a brand new Florida regulation, for Xaver to obtain the demise penalty the jury’s vote solely has to be 8-4 for execution as a substitute of unanimous. It was enacted after the 2018 Parkland highschool shooter couldn’t be sentenced to demise for murdering 17 individuals regardless of a 9-3 jury vote.
Sebring is a metropolis of about 11,000 residents and identified internationally for its annual 12 Hours of Sebring endurance auto race. Agriculture, tourism and retirees drive its economic system.
Xaver moved to Sebring in 2018 from close to South Bend, Indiana. In 2014, his highschool principal contacted police after Xaver instructed others he was having desires about hurting his classmates. His mom promised to get him psychological assist. He joined the Army in 2016.
A former girlfriend, who met him at a psychological hospital the place they had been sufferers, instructed police he stated becoming a member of the army was a “way to kill people and get away with it”.
The Army discharged him after three months.
In 2017, a Michigan lady reported him after he despatched her textual content messages suggesting he may commit “suicide by cop” or take hostages.
Despite his psychological issues and dismissal from the Army, Florida employed Xaver as a guard trainee in November 2018 at a jail close to Sebring. He give up two months later, which was two weeks before the shootings.
His employment file reveals no disciplinary points. He had utilized to be a Sebring police officer seven months before the murders however wasn’t employed. On the day before he give up working on the jail, Xaver legally bought a 9mm handgun and bullets. Later he purchased a bullet-resistant vest.
About five hours before the murders, Xaver started an extended, intermittent textual content message dialog with a girlfriend in Connecticut, telling her “this is the best day of my life” however refusing to say why.
Fifteen minutes before the shootings, he texted her, “I’m dying today”.
Then from the bank parking zone he texted, “I’m taking a few people with me because I’ve always wanted to kill people so I am going to try it and see how it goes. Watch for me on the news”.
He then entered the bank, a sweatshirt masking his vest.
Security video reveals him smiling as he approaches Lopez, in accordance to police experiences. They briefly communicate, before he pulls his gun and factors it at her and the opposite women. He orders them towards the wall before telling Lopez to lock the doorways.
When she returns, he orders the women onto the ground face down. After taking pictures them, he calls police on his cellphone.
He had been in the bank lower than 4 minutes. Police spoke with Xaver for about an hour before a SWAT crew broke into the bank. He surrendered a short while later and confessed in a taped interview with detectives.
That assertion has not been launched, however can be performed on the trial together with the safety video. Shortly after the taking pictures, the bank was torn down. The web site is now a park with a memorial to the victims.