Jury weighs death penalty after Mathew Terry was convicted in girlfriend's stabbing death
TAMPA, Fla. - A Tampa jury is weighing the death penalty after Matthew Terry was convicted of killing his girlfriend earlier this year. The defendant was found guilty of first-degree murder.
The jury only took one hour to decide Terry was guilty in the stabbing death of his girlfriend, Kay Baker, and that same jury will now decide if he lives or dies. During the penalty phase of the trial, prosecutors urged the jury to give him death.
Prosecutors said Terry killed Baker in a jealous rage after he accused her of dancing with another man at a bar. Hours later, Terry stabbed Baker to death – she was nearly decapitated.
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Prosecutors said Terry's actions were cruel and heinous and deserve the ultimate punishment.
"How painful each of those stab wounds would have been," Prosecutor Justin Diaz said. "How long it would have taken her to bleed to death, how she would have been conscious and aware that death is coming."
The defense asked the jury to spare his life.
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His first victim, ex-girlfriend Michelle Rogers who survived being stabbed and beaten by Terry years ago, now wants to send him to death row. She showed the jury her lifetime scars from the day she was stabbed.
"There's a small stab wound here, another stab wound here and another underneath my eyebrow," Rogers said.
The prosecution rested their case Wednesday afternoon, and the defense will call Terry's family, friends and experts to try and save his life.