Demorris Hunter, the subject of an “America’s Most Wanted” segment for the 2002 murder of his then-girlfriend, proclaimed his innocence for the first time as a judge set a date to formally sentence him.
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In Orange County on Monday, Hunter, 60, told Chief Judge Lisa Munyon — after consulting his attorney for several minutes — he did not kill his then-girlfriend, 38-year-old Theresa Green. He was convicted in April of her murder and could potentially be sentenced to death. They were his first remarks in open court since the trial began and also his final opportunity at being heard before Munyon decides her sentence.
Hunter pointed to what he called a flawed investigation targeting him while he was on the lam for an unrelated murder in California, for which he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. At trial, his defense team attempted to poke holes in the investigation while prosecutors convinced a jury that no one other than Hunter could have killed Green.
“This case was not investigated thoroughly as it should have been because I was a wanted man in California,” Hunter told the judge. “I didn’t do anything here. … They had their golden goose, which is me, but I’m not their golden goose.”
Neither Teodoro Marrero, his attorney, nor prosecutors Rich Buxman and Kenneth Nunnelley questioned Hunter following his comments.
Hunter was convicted of murdering Green — who knew him only as his alias, Michael Berry — 24 years after her body was found in the trunk of her own car in the parking lot of a Walgreen’s store in Sanford. Investigators said Hunter killed her after a get-together with neighbors at her College Park apartment building and enlisted the party’s unwitting host in moving her car out of the area.
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The jury unanimously recommended the death penalty, but Munyon is tasked with formally imposing that sentence. Her decision is slated to be announced at a hearing on Aug. 4.
Hunter was featured on the hit TV show “America’s Most Wanted” after he fled Florida following Green’s death, as he was also a fugitive in the killing of another woman who called the police after investigators said she witnessed him attacking his then-girlfriend. He was eventually arrested in Texas by the FBI and convicted of the California murder in 2005 before he was extradited to Florida 10 years later.
At trial, prosecutors argued Hunter and Green had an intoxicated altercation that ended in them tumbling down a flight of stairs, while pointing to a hole in the wall of her apartment, which she shared with her teenage son, as evidence he had attacked and possibly strangled her. The next morning, they said, he asked his neighbor to follow him as he drove Green’s car to the Sanford parking lot but was not asked why Green wasn’t with him, with the neighbor instead brushing it off when Hunter allegedly told him, “I did something really bad.”
Hunter’s attorneys countered by pointing to a lack of DNA evidence on Green or in her car while questioning inconsistencies in testimonies provided by Green’s neighbors. It was even suggested the neighbors might have been involved in Green’s killing, but no one other than Hunter has ever been accused.
It took seven hours for the jury to convict Hunter of first-degree murder. In the penalty phase, prosecutors pointed to his criminal record, which included prison time for voluntary manslaughter while he was living in California. He was released after serving 13 years of his 24-year sentence.
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The jury took two hours to recommend his execution.