A jury has recommended the death penalty for Zephen Xaver, a former prison guard trainee, for the execution-style murders of five women inside a Florida bank five years ago. The jury’s 9-3 vote in favor of the death penalty came after less than three hours of deliberation. The final decision now rests with Circuit Judge Angela Cowden, who could either accept the jury’s recommendation or sentence Xaver to life in prison without parole. A sentencing date will be set after a hearing next month.
The murders took place on January 23, 2019, at the SunTrust Bank in Sebring, Florida, about 85 miles southeast of Tampa. Xaver, 27, showed no emotion as the verdicts were read. Under a 2023 Florida law, a jury only needs an 8-4 vote to recommend the death penalty, a change from the previous requirement of a unanimous jury recommendation. This law was revised after a 9-3 jury vote spared the shooter who killed 17 people at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018.
Xaver had pleaded guilty last year to five counts of first-degree murder, which negated the need for a trial that had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, legal arguments, and attorney illness. His victims included Cynthia Watson, 65, who had been married for less than a month; Marisol Lopez, 55, a mother of two; Ana Pinon-Williams, 38, a mother of seven; Debra Cook, 54, a mother of two and a grandmother; and Jessica Montague, 31, a mother of one and stepmother of four. Xaver ordered them to lie on the floor and then shot them each in the head as they cried out, “Why?”
Prosecutor Bonde Johnson argued that Xaver deserved the death penalty because the massacre was long-planned and “shockingly evil,” fulfilling his years-long desire to experience killing. “He didn’t murder one person to truly know what it would be like to kill. He killed five. He watched them laying there on the floor. They were under his control, for his enjoyment, as he shot each one,” Johnson said.
Defense attorney Jane McNeill urged jurors to spare Xaver, arguing that he is mentally ill and has been hearing voices since childhood urging him to kill himself and others. “We ask you to show Zephen what he may least deserve — compassion, grace, and mercy,” McNeill told the panel, her voice breaking as she said, “sentencing Zephen to life is the right thing to do.”
During the two-week trial, prosecutors portrayed Xaver as a cold and calculated killer who pretended to hear voices to cover for his violent impulses. His attorneys countered that he has long suffered from psychotic episodes. In 2014, Xaver’s high school principal in Indiana contacted police after he told a counselor he dreamed of killing classmates. His mother, Misty Hendricks, promised to get him psychological help but testified at trial that she stopped his medications at 17 because he seemed to be doing better.
Xaver joined the Army but was discharged during boot camp in 2016 due to homicidal thoughts. These thoughts persisted. “It’s all I can think of, it’s all I hear every day and it’s all I see every day. It’s all I smell and taste every day: blood, death, and murder. It’s all I have happening 24/7,” Xaver wrote to a friend. He made similar posts online.
He moved to Sebring in 2018, was hired by the local prison but quit after two months. That was the day after he bought his gun and two weeks before the massacre. On the morning of the killings, he had a long text message conversation with a girlfriend, telling her it would be the “best day of his life” but refused to say why. He finally told her just before entering the bank that he was about to die and added, “the fun part.” “I’m taking a few people with me because I’ve always wanted to kill,” he texted. Afterward, Xaver threatened suicide but eventually surrendered.
Defense witnesses testified that Xaver was a quiet, kind child but struggled in school and then took a dark turn in adolescence. Melissa Manges, his high school counselor, testified that Xaver wanted more extensive help for his disturbing thoughts, but no long-term residential programs accepted him. “The system failed Zephen,” she said.
Brian Haas, the local state attorney, welcomed the verdict but emphasized that the focus should be on the victims, “not the monster who committed these crimes.” “Five women, who were mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, and so much more to so many people, had their lives cut short on that fateful day in January 2019. Their families have suffered so much without them while they waited for justice,” he said.
Source: WFMJ.com News
