Trial begins for teens accused of killing Roger Trindade

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Jury selection is set to begin Monday in the trial of two teenagers accused of beating another teen to death in Winter Park.

The two teens, Jesse Sutherland and Simeon Hall, could have avoided going to court altogether had they taken a plea deal offered to them on Friday. They rejected the offer to spend three year in prison. Instead, they face up to 15 years behind bars if found guilty in this trial.

Both Sutherland and Hall are 16-years-old, but are being charged as adults, facing manslaughter charges. 

Roger Trindade was beaten to death in 2016, found unconscious and not breathing in a park. Sutherland is accused of throwing the punch that killed Trindade. A medical examiner said that Trindade received blunt force trauma, which resulted in a brain hemorhage. Trindade was taken off life support two days after the attack.

Trindade had just moved to Florida from Brazil with his family. The family returned home following his death.

Hall had another run-in with the law back in October. He was supposed to be home with a monitoring device, but is accused of destroying the device and getting into another fight. He is facing battery charges for that and will go to trial later this summer.