Man swore at the families of the victims he killed before sentenced to death for their murder
A man who swore at the families of the victims he killed during his trial has been sentenced to death for their murder.
Peter Avsenew, who killed gay couple Steven Adams and Kevin Powell in Wilton Manors in Florida in 2010 raised his finger to to the parents of the couple as they left the court after the verdict.
33-year-old Avsenew, who represented himself during the hearing, was convicted of the murder of the couple in November 2017.
Said to have responded to a suggestive Craigslist ad from Adams and Powell, Avsenew moved in with the couple.
He then proceeded to have shot them dead inside their homes and then stole their possessions, including all of their money and their car.
The prosecution believe that Avsenew, an escort, killed the pair and did not call 911 to ensure that his identity would be concealed.
He was arrested for the crime in December 2010, after his mother called the police when he asked her to dump the couple’s car.
<iframe src=”https://cdnapisec.kaltura.com/p/2031101/sp/203110100/embedIframeJs/uiconf_id/36218821/partner_id/2031101?iframeembed=true&playerId=media-preview_0_0_6u8hqvn3&entry_id=0_6u8hqvn3&flashvars[streamerType]=auto” width=”640″ height=”395″ allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozAllowFullScreen frameborder=”0″></iframe>
In the second hearing to determine his sentence, Avsenew passed up the opportunity to ask jurors to spare his life.
“My job here is simple. I don’t have to prove anything to you as clearly the state’s proven. All I have to do is be here and behave,” Avsenew said during the sentencing.
“It’s up to you to decide life or death based on the information provided to you throughout this entire trial.
“I have no regrets in my life and I am proud of the decisions I’ve made. No one really knows what happened that day. You would need a Ouija board for that. Everyone can speculate what ifs and maybes until they’re blue in the face, which they’ll never really know,” he added.
Avsenew is the first defendant in the County to receive a death recommendation from a jury since the state’s death penalty law was rewritten last year.
If one juror would have requested to have spared Avsenew’s life, he would have instead faced life imprisonment.
Across the state, Avsenew has been taken into custody more than a dozen times since 2003, state records show.
He will leave behind a son.
