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Winter Springs man goes back on trial in Warlocks murder case

Attorneys finished jury selection in Sanford Monday for a Warlocks murder suspect whose trial three weeks ago ended in a mistrial.

Prosecutors are expected to begin presenting their case tomorrow against Victor "Pancho" Amaro, 43, of Winter Springs, who is charged with murdering three members of a rival motorcycle gang during a shootout two years ago in the VFW hall parking lot in Winter Springs.

He says he acted in self-defense.

Amaro's biker gang got into a shootout Sept. 30, 2012, with members of the Florida Warlocks.

Three Florida Warlocks were killed. Amaro and three other members of his gang were charged with murder.

Amaro went on trial three weeks ago, but four days into the proceeding, prosecutors played an audio recording of his statement to Winter Springs police and inadvertently included a portion in which he confessed to being a convicted felon.

That prompted Circuit Judge Jessica Recksiedler to declare a mistrial.

Amaro is charged with three counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder.

Last week co-defendant Robert Eckert, 40, of Longwood was sentenced to 27 years in prison after a different Seminole County jury convicted him of two counts of manslaughter with a firearm, one count of attempted second-degree murder with a firearm and one count of attempted voluntary manslaughter.

Yet to come to trial is Paul Wayne Smith, 49, the Effingham, S.C., man who started the shooting when he killed Florida Warlock Peter Schlette, a trucker from Denham Springs, La., a biker who was not carrying a gun.

The leader of Amaro's breakaway group, David Maloney, 54, of Longwood, was acquitted last month of three of four counts.