A man sentenced to death for killing a Miami couple 35 years ago is asking the state to spare his life, arguing that the abuse he suffered at a notorious state-run reform school contributed to his path toward violence.
Victor Jones, who faces execution on Tuesday, Sept. 30, was a victim of systematic abuse at the Florida School for Boys at Okeechobee — abuse that the state officially acknowledged only last year.
WATCH BELOW: Death row inmate cites state-inflicted abuse in bid to avoid execution
WPTV explored the lasting impacts of the now-shuttered reform schools in Okeechobee and Marianna — and how they raise profound questions about justice, rehabilitation and the state's responsibility for the trauma it inflicted on children in its care — in our special report, The Okeechobee Boys.
Jones was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1990 murders of Jack and Dolly Nestor, a couple who had given him a job at their Miami engineering business just two days before the killings.
"I miss them terribly, even now," said Irene Fisher, the daughter of the victims. "And I'm an old lady."
Fisher, now 76, lives in Boynton Beach and keeps sculptures her father made in her home as a reminder of his "creative genius," as she described it.
"He had 17 patents to his name," Fisher said. "And my mother — they were childhood sweethearts."
"She was a little doll. She actually looked like (actress) Hedy Lamarr," Fisher said, describing her mother with a laugh.
WATCH: WPTV gives a voice to survivors of brutal abuse at Florida reform schools
According to investigators, Jones attempted to rob the Nestors on Dec. 19, 1990, stabbing Dolly and taking her purse before confronting Jack in his office.
"He opened the door, and Mr. Jones stabbed him. So there was quite a fight. My father was a big man, and they fought for about 20 to 25 minutes. That's what I was told," Fisher said.
During the struggle, according to court documents, Jack Nestor managed to shoot Jones in the forehead.
"They were really good, good people," Fisher said. "Loved each other very much, and had a long life to live. They had at least another 25 years."
Jones' attorney, Marie-Louise Parmer, acknowledges her client's guilt but argues that crucial mitigating evidence was never presented to the jury that sentenced him to death in the early 1990s.
"He did commit a crime, and two people died, and that's wrong. And no one here is trying to say that's right," Parmer said. "The law is clear that when a jury doesn't get to hear relevant facts that undermine the integrity of the proceedings, then the defendant should have a new trial with an opportunity to present those facts to the jury.”
Those facts center around Jones' time at the Florida School for Boys at Okeechobee, where he suffered severe abuse at the hands of state employees.
"He said that he was beaten with the leather strap. He described the same leather strap that numerous other Okeechobee boys have described," Parmer said. "He described what he called 'blanket parties,' which were when older boys in the dorm would target new or younger boys who were confined and gang raped them under a blanket. He also described being placed in solitary confinement."
The State of Florida didn't officially acknowledge this systematic abuse until 2024, when it passed legislation to compensate survivors of both the Okeechobee school and the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in the Panhandle town of Marianna. Documents provided by Parmer confirm Jones was at Okeechobee in the 1970s and has been deemed eligible for compensation.
Maria Deliberato, the executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, finds Jones' case particularly troubling.
"The state of Florida acknowledges the everlasting trauma that the state inflicted upon these boys and men, and then, at the very same token, with like a just complete lack of understanding empathy, is signing off on the execution of one. And I find that level of cruelty and hypocrisy especially troubling in Victor's case," Deliberato said.
"The death penalty is supposed to be for the worst of the worst, the most aggravated, the least mitigated," she added.
Fisher, who plans to witness the execution with her family, was unaware of Jones' history of institutional abuse until our interview.
"A lot of people had rough childhoods," Fisher said. "A lot of people went through traumatic things as a kid. You just pick yourself up. You've got to do something about it."
She remains unmoved by Jones' past.
"He had an opportunity. Had he been decent, he would have had a job with my father," Fisher said.
As the execution date approaches, she is ready for closure.
"I kind of can't wait 'til it's all over with, if you really want to know, and it will be over with soon," Fisher said. "That's another chapter in my life that ends."
Jones' attorneys have also argued he should be spared execution because he is intellectually disabled, with IQ scores peaking in the 70s. Florida’s courts, including the state Supreme Court, have rejected those arguments and are allowing the execution to proceed as scheduled.
Over the weekend, Jones' legal team filed its final appeal with the United States Supreme Court.
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