TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The sentencing trial for convicted murderer Zephen Xaver entered its third day on Wednesday.
Xaver faces the death penalty or life in prison after he entered a Suntrust bank in Sebring and fatally shot five women in 2019. He said the voices in his head told him to do it.
The trial began Monday with prosecutors playing a 911 call between Xaver and a dispatcher, who took the stand and recounted the harrowing experience. She spent 45 minutes on the phone with him, attempting to keep him from taking his own life in a back room of the bank.
Jurors heard emotional testimony from a former bank teller on Tuesday who was on his lunch break and escaped to a nearby home to report the shooting. They also heard from a man who walked up to the bank shortly after the women were murdered.
On Wednesday, jurors listened to the remainder of a 3-hour recorded interview interrogation between Sebring Police Lt. Jeffery Reinhart and Xaver.
“The reason I had a gun to my head is because It made them stop for a short while. It would get them to be quiet enough to wear it was bearable,” Xaver said during the interview.
On the stand Lt. Reinhart discussed receipts and surveillance video that showed Xaver buying a gun from Boom Boom’s Guns & Ammo in Sebring. After completing the required forms, he said Xaver returned to the store to pick up the gun days later. He also talked about Xaver returning a third time to pick up a bullet-proof vest.
Xaver said previously in a 911 call that ‘voices’ told him to buy the bullet-proof vest.
Lt. Reinhart was also questioned about his interrogation techniques by Assistant Public Defender Jane McNeill.
“After you say, ‘Do you understand the rights I just read to you?’, do you say anything like, and ‘Do you want to talk to me’?” McNeill asked.
“I didn’t ask him if he wanted to talk to me, that’s correct,” Lt. Reinhart responded.
“You just started the questioning?” McNeill asked.
“Yes ma’am,” Lt. Reinhart said.
McNeill went on to ask, “You ask the same question multiple times throughout the course of an interrogation, correct?”
“Yes, you do,” said Lt. Reinhart.
“And you did that with Mr. Xaver as well?” said McNeill.
“Yes I did,” said Lt. Reinhart.
“And when you ask a question multiple times what might happen is you might get a different response, correct?” said McNeill.
“Of course,” said Lt. Reinhart.
“And then you would have the ability to say he gave an inconsistent statement, right?” said McNeill.
“Yes ma’am,” Lt. Reinhart responded.
State prosecutors responded by asking Lt. Reinhart about the confession being recorded.
“Did you conduct another interview somewhere else in a hallway, secretively before or after that with Mr. Xaver?” a state prosecutor asked.
“No I did not,” said Lt. Reinhart.
The state went on to ask, “When you observed him and he’s cooperative and following directions, did he seem distracted at all to you?”
“No, sir, he did not,” said Lt. Reinhart.
Lt. Reinhart testified that Xaver seemed aware during questioning, and did not notice anything unusual in his demeanor.
James Kwong, a Senior Crime Laboratory Analyst with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement took the stand and talked about the forensic and ballistic evidence gathered, including the gun and bullets used in the crime.
Stephen Nelson ChiefMedical Examinerfor Polk, Hardee, and Highlands counties also testified Wednesday.
Nelson discussed where the five victims were shot, with every victim suffering a gunshot wound to the head, while some were also shot in the torso, chest or shoulder.
“All of these wounds in all of these victims were what we call distance wounds,” Nelson said on the stand.
Several former employees of the gun store were also questioned on the stand, and asked if there were any concerns about Xaver’s behavior when he was purchasing the gun.
“Do you take any precautions or awareness of persons you’re engaging with?” the state asked former Boom Boom’s employee George Pelaez.
“Normally we do. If they’re not acting suspicious or anything of that sort we will go to the owner and they will take it from there,” said Pelaez.
When asked is he had any unease or concerns with his encounter with Xaver, Pelaez said no.
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