Michael Robert Schnitzerling was found guilty Thursday of first degree murder in the 2019 shooting death of Bruce Salituri at the victim’s Fort Lauderdale home.
Schnitzerling, 34, of Delray Beach, will now have to face the same jury to determine whether he will be sentenced to death for the crime or ordered to spend the rest of his life in prison.
The evidence in the case pointed so obviously to the defendant that his attorney, Joe Kimok, suggested Schnitzerling was being framed. The killer used Schnitzerling’s gun and Schnitzerling’s car. The killer dropped the gun in the victim’s house, even though he had just used the weapon trying to kill a second victim.
Prosecutor Tonya Johnson argued that all the evidence points to Schnitzerling because he’s the one who committed the crime.
In addition to the gun and car, prosecutors introduced evidence that Schnitzerling had his phone at a Delray Beach Dunkin Donuts shortly before the shooting. Schnitzerling was seen on surveillance video at that location. Records show the same phone was later in the victim’s house at the time of the shooting.
Schnitzerling was also found guilty of the attempted murder of Salituri’s housemate, DeWayne Williams, who managed to escape and reach a neighbor, who called police. Williams was unable to identify the defendant as his attacker in pre-trial discussions, and lawyers did not ask him to do so in court.
Prosecutor Molly McGuire told the jury during closing arguments on Wednesday that crime victims are sometimes unable to make positive identifications because of the trauma they experienced. Williams was shot in the face and neck during the attack.
Broward Circuit Judge Martin Fein set the penalty phase to begin on Oct. 13.
Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457. Follow him on Threads.net/@rafael.olmeda.
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