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Thread: Matthew Terry Sentenced to LWOP in 2022 FL Murder of Kay Baker

  1. #1
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    Matthew Terry Sentenced to LWOP in 2022 FL Murder of Kay Baker






    He’s accused of killing a Hillsborough teacher. His ex warned he’d hurt someone else.

    Matthew Terry rekindled a romance with Kay Baker after stabbing another woman. Baker was stabbed to death in similar circumstances.

    Mary Claire Molloy Times staff

    LITHIA — A neighbor heard her gasping for air.

    It was Kay Baker’s last day of school. The 3rd-grade math and science teacher at Cypress Creek Elementary in Ruskin had gone out to a bar that night with her boyfriend, Matthew Terry.

    “I saw you dancing with that guy,” Terry said to her angrily before they left for home in a Lithia subdivision at about 11:30 p.m. on May 27, according to court documents.

    An hour later, Baker was dead. The neighbor who heard her screams found her body in his yard. The 43-year-old mother of two had been stabbed multiple times in the neck. The deep wounds indicated someone had tried to sever her head, police said.

    Hillsborough sheriff’s deputies discovered a knife missing from the kitchen butcher block. They found Terry, 47, hiding in nearby bushes, wearing a T-shirt, his underwear soaked with blood, according to an affidavit. A grand jury indicted him on a charge of first-degree murder in June, and the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office is considering whether to seek the death penalty.

    There was one other person who knew what it was like to face Terry and the tip of his knife — to be hunted down in your home by the man you trusted enough to let in.

    Five years earlier, it was Michelle Rogers lying on a neighbor’s lawn, her blood mingling with Michigan snow. Terry had bitten, beaten and stabbed Rogers multiple times, leaving the mother of his child in intensive care for five days.

    “It was as close to a homicide as you could get without it being a homicide,” Lansing police Detective Matthew Krumbach said of the scene in an audio recording obtained by the Tampa Bay Times.

    After Terry was charged with attempted murder, his lawyer argued his client acted in self-defense and called Rogers’ testimony an “impossible and implausible story,” court records show.

    “If he gets out, I fear for myself and my family, and for his next victim,” Rogers pleaded in a 2020 letter to the Michigan Parole Board. “Society is in danger.”

    But Terry did get out after serving three years on a reduced charge. He was discharged in December and moved to Florida to be with Baker, an ex-girlfriend he’d reconnected with while awaiting trial. Baker took Terry’s side and testified for him in court.

    “He is very truthful and I trust him completely,” Baker told the judge, according to a court transcript.

    Rogers said she warned Baker that the man she was dating and defending was a monster. During the trial, she sent Baker a photo of her stab wounds on Facebook Messenger along with an imploring message:

    “Please don’t let this be you.”

    The Golden Girls

    Baker was one of the “Golden Girls.”

    Her friend group of four were united by their love of that 1980s sitcom, frosé and karaoke. They talked about moving into their own mansion on the beach and growing old together, outliving any husbands or boyfriends.

    “I would say she was more of a Dorothy, but she probably wouldn’t like that,” friend Lindsey Fielder said with a laugh, referring to Bea Arthur’s character on the show. “Kay is bold and fierce and fiery. She is the strongest one in our girlfriend group.”

    Baker was known for greeting people with a simple “What up?” and pulling out her calendar to write down future plans, Fielder said. She worked hard to bring people together and always sat midfield at her son’s soccer games.

    But eventually, Baker stopped including the other Golden Girls in her plans. She was spending all her time with Terry. Now, Fielder wonders if this isolation was a sign of abuse they all had missed.

    “When I picture a hopeless romantic, I think of the girls in the Hallmark movies and that wasn’t her,” Fielder said. “But maybe she had a little bit of that, because she always believed in her and Matt.”

    Kay’s father and stepmother said they never liked or trusted Terry. They warned Baker she could be attacked just like Rogers.

    “My daughter was a very stubborn person,” Dave Empey, 73, said in an interview with the Times on Thursday. “She said, ‘Listen, Dad, I’m not gonna let that happen. That is not gonna happen in my house, with my sons.’”

    Baker didn’t really know Terry because so much of their relationship was online and long-distance while he was in prison, Empey said. He believes she was in love with a person who existed only in memories from 20 years ago.

    Empey and his wife went to Terry’s bond hearing in early June. He refused to look at them and didn’t show any remorse, they said.

    That morning, Baker’s sister and stepmother went to her house in Lithia.

    “I got down in the dirt where Kay died,” Kristine Empey, 60, said. “I promised her that he would not get away with it.”

    The previous victim

    Rogers first met Terry on a dating app in 2015.

    They dated casually for a few months, but Rogers was planning to end the relationship. Then she found out she was pregnant. For the baby’s sake, they stayed together.

    But there were signs of escalating abuse and violence, Rogers said: the morning at breakfast when Terry chucked a cast iron pan at her and their 1-year-old son; the day he picked up her cat, Snickers, and threw her against the wall; the drunken, angry nights when he banged on her apartment door, asking who she was sleeping with and demanding to be let in.

    Gregg McClintic, Terry’s coworker at a local internet provider, told Lansing police that Terry talked about “stabbing the s--t” out of his girlfriend months before the attack. McClintic told the Times he didn’t report the threat because he didn’t take it seriously.

    “You think nothing of it until something does happen,” said McClintic, 41.

    Then, on March 17, 2017, after a night out at the bar and an argument, Terry stabbed Rogers in the neck with a kitchen knife.

    Rogers escaped through the garage, leaving bloody handprints on the walls as she opened the door. When Terry tackled her in the driveway, she remembered grabbing for the knife in mid-air. It fell to her side and she rolled on top of it, fighting to keep it out of Terry’s hands as neighbors called 911.

    Terry heard the sirens and ran. Rogers recalled lying in the snow on her back, waiting for him to return, bracing for the final blow. It’s going to hurt a lot, she told herself. Then, you’re going to just fade away. She said a silent goodbye to her 9-month-old baby and 7-year-old son.

    Terry’s attorney argued that he had no intent to kill or assault anyone and was using his training as an ex-Marine to neutralize a fight Rogers had started, according to court transcripts. A jury convicted Terry of assault with intent to cause great bodily harm and a judge sentenced him to three to 10 years in prison.

    “I wish I could say that what you did to me was an isolated incident, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth,” Rogers said during Terry’s sentencing. “This is just the only time you’ve gotten caught.”

    She saw the glares of Terry’s defenders, how his friends and family shook their heads as she spoke in court.

    “Had he really intended to murder or cause bodily harm, that would have happened,” Terry’s father, Mark, 74, told the Times in an interview this week.

    The Michigan Parole Board discharged Terry after he served the minimum three-year sentence because he had a high parole score for good behavior and he passed a domestic violence class, a department of corrections spokesperson said.

    Hillsborough County Public Defender Julie Holt, whose office is representing Terry, declined to comment.

    Advocates say it’s common for perpetrators of domestic violence to get off easily.

    “These cases are pled down, the charges are reduced, there’s very little jail time, the rehabilitation programs aren’t necessarily regulated,” said Lariana Forsythe, chief executive officer of CASA Pinellas, an organization that provides resources for domestic violence survivors. “These perpetrators go off to another unsuspecting victim.”

    Domestic violence involves coercive control, Forsythe said. It starts with a perpetrator isolating a victim from their friends and family and exerting control over their life choices. From there, verbal or physical abuse escalates, sometimes to murder. More than half of female homicide victims in the U.S. are killed by a current or former male partner. Prior domestic violence is a major risk factor in these murders.

    “It’s very common for people to not understand the danger of the situation they’re in,” Forsythe said. “Perpetrators are masterful at putting themselves in a positive light so their stories are believable.”

    Mark Terry said he visited his son for the first time since Baker’s death on Tuesday.

    “He is devastated by the loss of Kay Baker, as is our entire family,” the elder Terry said in a text to the Times. “She was a very special person to all of us, and we will miss her greatly. It’s difficult to comment further, as the events implied thus far defy all logic.”

    Krumbach, the Lansing detective who investigated Rogers’ case and now is retired, said in an email to the Times that “Matthew Terry was a textbook case of an evil, narcissistic, manipulative killer.

    “It appeared he was supported by his family,” the detective added, “who denied his behavior and actions, especially his father.”

    ‘If we would have believed’

    The night before Baker’s funeral, Fielder and other friends read Rogers’ parole board letter together. Before then, they had only heard Terry’s version of the story.

    Rogers told them about her scars, broken nose, busted molar and concussion. How Terry had bashed her head into the cement driveway, again and again; the terror she felt as he raised the knife over her once more; the way she shakes every time she says his name.

    “Mr. Terry is dangerous and will hurt another person. It’s simply a matter of time,” the letter reads. “Except the next time, that person might not be as lucky as I was.”

    All of Baker’s friends cried.

    “If we would have believed Michelle to begin with,” Fielder said, her voice cracking. “I want her to know that we support her and how sorry I am that I didn’t believe her.”

    How to get help

    If you are in immediate danger, call 911. The Florida Coalition of Domestic Violence can be reached at 800-500-1119 or via TDD at 800-621-4202. Here’s how to reach Tampa Bay’s domestic violence agencies for help:

    Hillsborough County: Call or text The Spring of Tampa Bay’s 24-hour crisis line at 813-247-7233 or visit online at thespring.org. The TTY line is 813-248-1050.

    Pasco County: Contact Sunrise of Pasco County via its 24-hour hotline at 1-888-668-7273 or 352-521-3120, or go online at www.sunrisepasco.org.

    Pinellas County: Contact Community Action Stops Abuse, or CASA, by calling the 24-hour hotline at 727-895-4912, texting casa-stpete.org/chat or visiting casapinellas.org. The TTY line at 727-828-1269.

    Domestic violence warning signs

    Abuser isolates victim from friends or family.
    Victim is encouraged or forced to stop participating in activities important to them.
    Abuser controls finances or puts victim on an allowance, asks for explanations of spending.
    Victim is blamed for their feelings, yelled at or made to feel “small.”
    Abuser criticizes and controls victim’s appearance, including what they can wear.
    Abuser abandons victim in places they don’t know.
    Abuser keeps victim from eating, sleeping or getting medical care.
    Abuser throws or punches things around victim.

    https://www.tampabay.com/news/crime/...outputType=amp
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

  2. #2
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Prosecutors to Seek Death Penalty Against Man Who Allegedly Stabbed and Killed Girlfriend as She Tried to Get Away

    By Alberto Luperon
    Law & Crime

    Reversing a decision from her predecessor, a new lead prosecutor in Florida will seek the death penalty against a man who allegedly murdered his fleeing girlfriend.

    Matthew Robertson Terry, 47, was arrested back on May 28, charged with stabbing elementary school math teacher Kay Baker, 43, to death.

    According to authorities in press releases and court documents, the two were together at the Landing Bar & Grill on the night of May 27.

    A witness said that Terry was upset with Baker.

    “I saw you dancing with that guy,” the defendant allegedly said.

    Early on May 28, a man claimed to hear screaming and found Baker dead outside, according to a redacted affidavit.

    Investigators followed a trail of blood to Terry in overgrown brush and trees. He was “found only wearing a t-shirt and underwear soaked in apparent blood.”

    He had lacerations on his fingers and hands, as well as superficial cuts to his arm, authorities said.

    “The defendant also had two apparent stab wounds along each side of his neck, which appeared to be symmetrical and clean punctures,” authorities said. “The defendant declined to make any statements without legal representation.”

    Based on the blood pooling where he was, authorities suggested these were self-inflicted wounds.

    Authorities suggested that Baker had fled out of a window within a locked bedroom, but Terry caught her. She sustained several stab wounds to her right shoulder, back, and a “very deep laceration” across the front of her neck, authorities said.

    “Every capital murder case must be evaluated on its own facts to determine if a reasonable jury made up of Hillsborough County citizens could unanimously sentence a defendant to death,” the 13th Judicial District’s new State

    Attorney Susan S. Lopez said. “It is the most serious penalty available under Florida law, and I approach this responsibility with humility and a sense of duty to the rule of law. Defendant Mathew Terry’s actions were especially heinous, cruel, and atrocious. He was merciless in his brutal killing of Ms. Baker, and given his history of violent behavior, we will ask a jury to sentence him to death.”

    Terry previously spent three years in a Michigan prison after authorities there said he bit, beat, and stabbed his then-girlfriend, according to The Tampa Bay Times.

    He now remains at the Hillsborough County Jail in a $1 million bond.

    The decision to seek death in this case is among the first made by Lopez. Her predecessor Andrew Warren refused to prosecute anyone for violating Florida’s 15-week abortion ban, prosecute doctors for providing gender-affirming services for transgender people, or trans people who used restrooms matching their gender. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) suspended him from the job. Warren, a Democrat, called the Republican governor’s decision a “political stunt” and “illegal overreach” borne of political ambition.

    Warren’s office had previously declined to seek the death penalty against Terry, according to the Times in a Monday report. He told the outlet that he did not seek the death penalty based on the wishes of Baker’s family.

    “We’re not really people who are hugely in favor of the death penalty,” Baker’s stepmother Kristine Empey told the outlet. “In this case, we were all in agreement that if that was what legal experts wanted to do, we were not opposed to it.”

    “We just don’t want him to get out,” Empey said of Terry.

    Colin Kalmbacher and Elura Nanos contributed to this report.

    https://lawandcrime.com/crime/prosec...d-to-get-away/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  3. #3
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    Trial set for man accused of killing math teacher

    Recently appointed Hillsborough State Attorney Susan Lopez filed a notice that her office will seek the death penalty against Matthew Terry.

    Author: 10 Tampa Bay

    TAMPA, Fla. — The trial has been set for the man accused of killing a Hillsborough County teacher as the state now seeks the death penalty for him.

    The Office of the State Attorney 13th Judicial Court on Aug. 8 announced that recently appointed Hillsborough State Attorney Susan Lopez filed notice that her office will seek the death penalty for Matthew Terry "because of his despicable murder" of 43-year-old Kay Baker in May.

    Baker, who was an elementary school teacher and mother of two, was reportedly in a relationship with Terry when an argument led to the murder of the 43-year-old, a news release from the office explains. She was found stabbed to death outside a home in Lithia.

    Terry was charged with first-degree murder. On Monday, a judge set his trial to begin on Oct. 31.

    According to the release, Terry was previously convicted in Michigan of assault with intent to cause great bodily harm to an ex-girlfriend when he stabbed her "multiple times."

    Terry was released from prison and then moved to Florida. Five months after moving, he killed Baker, the agency explains.

    “Every capital murder case must be evaluated on its own facts to determine if a reasonable jury made up of Hillsborough County citizens could unanimously sentence a defendant to death," State Attorney Lopez said in a statement. "It is the most serious penalty available under Florida law, and I approach this responsibility with humility and a sense of duty to the rule of law.

    "Defendant Mathew Terry’s actions were especially heinous, cruel, and atrocious. He was merciless in his brutal killing of Ms. Baker, and given his history of violent behavior, we will ask a jury to sentence him to death."

    https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/cr...0-7c14a6cc15b8
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

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    State wants to use evidence of 2017 attack in trial for Hillsborough teacher’s death

    Matthew Terry faces a murder charge in the stabbing of his girlfriend, Kay Baker. He served prison time for a similar attack

    By Dan Sullivan
    Tampa Bay Times

    TAMPA — As Matthew Terry moves toward trial on charges that he stabbed his girlfriend to death outside her Lithia home, prosecutors want to tell a jury about how he once nearly killed another woman in Michigan.

    On Thursday, they brought the surviving victim before a Tampa judge.

    Michelle Rogers wept at times as she recounted the violent struggle with her former boyfriend at their Lansing home.

    She remembered fleeing out a garage door after escaping his grasp. She remembered being stabbed, punched and bitten. She remembered struggling to grab a knife as she lay in the snow-covered front yard.

    “I’m going to die here,” she remembered thinking.

    Terry served three years in prison for the 2017 attack. Prosecutors say it was similar to the May 28 slaying of Kay Baker, a 3rd-grade math and science teacher at Cypress Creek Elementary in Ruskin who was found with her throat cut in her neighbor’s yard in Lithia.

    They want to be able to use Rogers’ story to bolster their case against claims Terry’s defense might make. The defense counters that the 2017 attack is irrelevant to Terry’s current charges.

    Rogers’ testimony came shortly after the lawyers emerged from a different courtroom, where they argued over whether Hillsborough State Attorney Susan Lopez should have to testify about her decision to seek the death penalty against Terry.

    Lopez was appointed Aug. 4 to replace Andrew Warren, who was suspended from office by Gov. Ron DeSantis. The next day, Lopez reversed Warren’s decision not to seek capital punishment in Terry’s case.

    Terry’s public defenders have suggested the reversal was politically motivated and asked a judge to strike the state’s death notice. They issued subpoenas to Lopez and one of the prosecutors handling the case. Prosecutors have asked that a judge strike the subpoenas, arguing that the information the defense seeks is privileged. The matter is set for further arguments Friday.

    On the witness stand, Rogers described how she met Terry through a dating app in 2015.

    In late 2016, they moved into a home Terry purchased in Lansing, Mich. On St. Patrick’s Day 2017, they’d gone with friends to several bars. When it started to get dark, she waited to go home with Terry. She found him heavily intoxicated, unable to speak. She went home without him.

    Later that evening, she was on a couch watching TV when she heard a knock at their rear sliding door. She found Terry there, asking to be let inside. After she let him in, he started to make food in their kitchen.

    “I don’t remember what started it all,” she said. She described Terry charging forward to tackle her, pushing her into a door before pinning her to the floor.

    “He kept trying to put me into wrestling moves,” she said. “I kept somehow managing to get out of them. ... He kept punching me.”

    She remembered falling on her belly. She remembered her hands slipping in blood as she tried to push herself up. She remembered blacking out as Terry pushed her head against the floor.

    Terry retrieved a knife from a kitchen butcher block. Rogers said he began stabbing her from behind. She pointed to a scar on her neck, where she said he’d cut her.

    She managed to rise and run to the garage. She opened the garage door and made it outside. Terry followed and continued to attack her, she said. They tussled on the driveway. She yelled, she said, “to the point that my lungs just burned.”

    He continued to stab and punch her.

    “I remember thinking ‘if you don’t get this knife from him, he’s going to kill you.’”

    When he moved to strike her again, she reached for the blade. It fell from his grasp. She tried to cover it with her body. He continued to reach for the knife. He began to bite her face and arms.

    She heard someone yell for Terry to get off her. She heard sirens. He moved and ran back into the house.

    Terry’s trial in Baker’s killing is set to begin Oct. 31.

    https://www.tampabay.com/news/crime/...eachers-death/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  5. #5
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    Death penalty on the table for Matthew Terry after acting Hillsborough state attorney questioned under oath

    By Gloria Gomez

    TAMPA, Fla. - Acting Hillsborough State Attorney Suzy Lopez took the stand Friday to defend her decision to seek the death penalty in the case of accused murderer Matthew Terry.

    After hearing hours of arguments Tampa judge Michael Williams dropped a bombshell ruling Friday morning.

    "I’m going to deny the motion to quash Ms. Lopez. I will hear from her first," Williams stated.

    That ruling meant newly-elected Hillsborough State Attorney Suzy Lopez was in the hot seat answering questions on the witness stand.

    The Hillsborough public defender’s office is accusing Lopez of playing politics with the life of their client Matthew Terry.

    Terry is accused of stabbing his girlfriend, Kay Baker, to death during an argument in May.

    The defense wants Lopez to explain why she decided to pursue a death sentence in the Terry case just 24 hours after she was appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis.

    Lopez defended her decision. She explained she was shown an 81-page PowerPoint presentation by lead prosecutor Justin Diaz.

    "It was after I reviewed Mr. Diaz's thorough PowerPoint and had a discussion with the homicide committee that I made my decision," explained Lopez.

    Lopez testified she was made aware of the Terry case the first day she took office and immediately reviewed the case with her homicide team.

    She said Terry's action were cruel and heinous.

    "Miss Baker was nearly decapitated with a knife that Mr. Terry plunged into her throat," she recalled.

    Terry, who is set to go to trial at the end of the month, thought he was off the hook on a death sentence after Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren declined to seek it.

    But then, on August 4, the governor suspended Warren, for not following the law and refusing to prosecute cases involving abortion and transgender health care.

    Warren is now suing in Federal court to get his job back.

    The governor appointed Lopez as the new state attorney. The very next day Lopez filed her intent to seek the death penalty in the Terry case, just under the 45-day deadline.

    Hillsborough public defender Jamie Kane accused Lopez of trying to score political points.

    "Democratic state attorney makes one decision and 24 hours later a Republican state attorney makes a different decision and we’re going to say that it’s not political? How is that possible? When according to Ms. Lopez the facts haven’t changed the only fact that changes in the case is the person making this decision," argued Kane.

    During Kane's questioning of Lopez, he asked if she had done her own research on the Terry case before she decided to seek death.

    "No, sir," replied Lopez.

    Kane pressed Lopez on whether she was offered any promises or favors by the governor or his staff if Warren would be re-instated as state attorney, but prosecutors objected to the questions and the judge agreed it was irrelevant to the Terry case.

    Later, Hillsborough state prosecutor Jay Pruner asked Lopez if she was pressured by the governor or any source to seek the death penalty in the Terry case.

    "No, sir," replied Lopez.

    Judge Williams believed Lopez and said the defense failed to meet its burden.

    Williams ruled the death penalty will remain in the Terry case.

    The trial is set to begin on October 31, 2022.

    https://www.fox13news.com/news/death...under-oath.amp
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

  6. #6
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    Man accused of stabbing girlfriend to death heads to trial in Tampa

    Hillsborough State Attorney Susan Lopez filed notice that her office will seek the death penalty for Matthew Terry.

    Author: 10 Tampa Bay

    HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Jury selection began Monday in the murder trial of Matthew Terry, the man accused of killing a Hillsborough County teacher in May.

    The Office of the State Attorney 13th Judicial Court on Aug. 8 announced that recently appointed Hillsborough State Attorney Susan Lopez filed notice that her office will seek the death penalty for Terry "because of his despicable murder" of 43-year-old Kay Baker.

    Baker, who was an elementary school teacher and mother of two, was in a relationship with Terry when an argument led to her murder, according to the sheriff's office. She was found stabbed to death outside a home in Lithia.

    “She had a heart like no other. She loved her boys and she also loved her students," Brandi Haggstrom, a friend and former neighbor of Baker, said. back in August. “She lit up a room and she was always there to make you smile."

    Terry was charged with first-degree murder.

    Investigators say Terry was previously convicted in Michigan of assault with intent to cause great bodily harm to an ex-girlfriend when he stabbed her "multiple times."

    Terry was released from prison before moving to Florida. Five months after moving, he killed Baker, the sheriff's office said.

    “Every capital murder case must be evaluated on its own facts to determine if a reasonable jury made up of Hillsborough County citizens could unanimously sentence a defendant to death," State Attorney Lopez said in a statement. "It is the most serious penalty available under Florida law, and I approach this responsibility with humility and a sense of duty to the rule of law.

    "Defendant Mathew Terry’s actions were especially heinous, cruel, and atrocious. He was merciless in his brutal killing of Ms. Baker, and given his history of violent behavior, we will ask a jury to sentence him to death."

    Opening statements in Terry's trial are expected to begin Friday, Nov. 4, at the earliest.

    https://www.wtsp.com/amp/article/new...8-23f215ffe4a3
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

  7. #7
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    Matthew Terry gets emotional on first day of murder trial in girlfriend's stabbing death

    By Gloria Gomez

    TAMPA, Fla. - A Lithia man accused of stabbing his girlfriend to death in May got emotional on the first day of trial. Matthew Terry was charged with first-degree murder, accused of killing Kay Baker after flying into a jealous rage.

    During opening arguments, prosecutors said Baker was nearly decapitated. At times, some evidence appeared to bring Terry to tears.

    Prosecutors said Baker, an elementary school math teacher, believed she would survive a fight with her boyfriend, but she didn't.

    "She had been stabbed multiple times she had been cut multiple times," Prosecutor Justin Diaz said.

    On Friday, May 27, Baker sent one last text message to a friend, letting her know her argument with boyfriend, Terry, was over.

    "It says: 'lol Sorry for that. So dumb. All good now.' That’s at 11:56 that’s within 30 minutes of Kay Baker being found dead in her neighbor’s yard," explained Diaz.

    Prosecutors said her killer was her live-in boyfriend, Terry. They said Terry flew into a jealous rage after he accused Baker of dancing with another man at a bar.

    They said she denied it and thought the clash was over, but minutes after that, she sent the text, and neighbors like Jonathan Figgins would hear screams and a loud thump.

    "I thought it was someone drunk passed out on my lawn, so I tried calling 'hey, you okay?' No response," recalled Figgins.

    Hillsborough County Public Defender Jennifer Spradley told the jury there is no video, no eyewitness of the murder and just a lot of speculation from prosecutors.

    "Once you hear all of the evidence, and you put all the pieces together, and you hold the state to their burden in this case you will find that Mr. Terry is not guilty of the murder of Kay Baker," argued Spradley.

    The trial is expected to last the entire week. If convicted, a jury could recommend a death sentence. This comes after acting Hillsborough State Attorney Suzy Lopez took the stand to defend her decision to seek the death penalty in the case. The judge at the time ruled the death penalty would remain in the case.

    The trial is expected to last the entire week.

    https://www.fox13news.com/news/matth...bing-death.amp
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

  8. #8
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    Jury shown dramatic bodycam video in Matthew Terry murder trial

    By Gloria Gomez

    TAMPA, Fla. - On the second day of testimony in the Matthew Terry murder trial, the jury was shown dramatic body camera video from after the murder of his girlfriend, Kay Baker.

    After midnight on May 28, video shows Hillsborough County deputies with guns drawn entering the Lithia home of the victim, Baker. Once inside, deputies discover a bloody crime scene. They go room by room looking for victims and a possible assailant.

    Deputies found a locked room and kick in the door with one deputy shouting "sheriff's office." Outside, a deputy’s flashlight illuminates a bloody trail leading to the lifeless body of Baker.

    Prosecutors said her live-in boyfriend, Terry, killed her during a jealous rage after accusing her of dancing with another man at a bar.Prosecutor Justin Diaz said the elementary school teacher was stabbed repeatedly and nearly decapitated.

    "Kay Baker is lying face down on the ground in the yard of her neighbor," said Diaz.

    Not far away, another dramatic scene was playing out. The bodycam video shows blood hounds tracking a bloody Terry hiding in a wooded area.

    Hillsborough Deputy and K9 handler Brian Pulido was part of the search.

    "I felt pretty certain the person that was losing that blood was nearby," he testified.

    The defense claimed the video also shows there was a rush to judgment in this case. They said after Terry was caught, with cuts to his neck the search for the real killer ended.

    However, prosecutors contend Terry cut himself during a suicide attempt after the murder.

    Terry's trial will continue Wednesday. If convicted of the charges, the jury could recommend the death penalty.

    https://www.fox13news.com/news/jury-...rder-trial.amp
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

  9. #9
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    Murder victim’s last moments played for jury at boyfriend’s death penalty trial

    By Gloria Gomez

    TAMPA, Fla. - On Wednesday, jurors in the death penalty trial of Matthew Terry were shown surveillance video showing Kay Baker’s last hours of life.

    On the evening of May 27, Baker appeared happy and carefree. She's having a couples night out with her boyfriend Matthew Terry at the Landing Bar and Grill in Valrico.

    Prosecutors say, hours later she would be dead. They say Terry stabbed the elementary school math teacher to death in a jealous rage.

    Kelly Andrews and her husband were with Baker and Terry at the bar that night. She remembers Terry was jealous, accusing Baker of dancing with another man at the bar. She denied it, but Terry didn’t believe her.

    "I remember him saying something strange, along the lines of, 'I want to protect my queen and my kingdom.’ I’m telling him he was being jealous and just to stop," recalled Andrews.

    In the video played by prosecutors, you see Baker walk up to Andrews and begin dancing. A man in a white shirt can be seen pumping his arms in the air and dancing as he passed the two women.

    That occurs as Terry walks out of the bathroom and prosecutor Justin Diaz says that sets a deadly plan into motion.

    "He said, 'just own up to it', Andrews remembered.

    "Mr. Terry said 'just own up to it?’ asked prosecutor Diaz.

    "Yes," responded Andrews.

    "Who did that comment appear directed at?' asked Diaz.

    "Kay," answered Andrews.

    Andrews said Terry’s accusations continued. Baker gives goodbye hugs to the Andrews, and they leave the bar.

    Minutes later, Baker calls Andrews and sends a final text message which she reads out loud to the jury.

    "It says, ' lol sorry for that. So dumb. All good now', Andrews said.

    Shortly after leaving the restaurant, Baker called Andrews and sent a final text message.

    Thirty minutes after that text, Baker's lifeless body was discovered in a neighbor’s yard in Lithia.

    On Wednesday, the judge also ruled that Terry’s ex-girlfriend will be allowed to testify.

    The woman says she was nearly killed by Terry and he served three years in prison for that attack in Michigan.

    It’s a big win for prosecutors.

    The trial continues on Thursday.

    https://www.fox13news.com/news/juror...r-homicide.amp
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

  10. #10
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Matthew Terry found guilty: Ex-girlfriend describes stabbing that nearly killed her

    By Gloria Gomez
    Fox 13 News

    TAMPA, Fla. - The deciding factor in the murder trial of Matthew Terry may have been the living evidence of his violent past.

    Terry's ex-girlfriend, Michelle Rogers testified Tuesday about how he nearly killed her back in 2017 when they lived together in Michigan. She barely survived it. Kay Baker didn't.

    In a pre-trial hearing, Rogers testified about her ordeal, which sent Terry to prison for 3 years, but the judge had to decide if the jury in his trial for the alleged murder of his most recent girlfriend would hear from Rogers.

    It was a big win for the prosecution when the judge let Rogers speak in court. She told the jury everything.

    In March 2017, Rogers and Terry were living together. On the 17th, everything changed.

    Rogers said she and Terry had been drinking on the St. Patrick’s holiday. Hours later, Terry turned violent.

    Without warning or provocation, she said Terry lunged at her and began attacking her.

    "He was taking both of his hands and grabbing my head and slamming it into the floor, so every time he would do that, my vision would go black," she recalled.

    Rogers said Terry then punched her face and body. She said the beating only stopped for a minute, while Terry left to get a knife.

    "The next thing you know, Mr. Terry comes around behind me and stabs me in the neck," Rogers said through tears.

    The Michigan mom thought she was going to die and never see her children again.

    Bleeding and bruised, Rogers said she ran, but Terry followed her with the knife in hand.

    "He stabbed me three times in the shoulder," she said.

    She was somehow able to wrestle the knife away from Terry and tucked it under her body as she laid on her driveway.

    Frightened neighbors saw the attack and called police. Rogers escaped with her life. Terry was sent to prison for three years.

    But prosecutors say, five year later, Kay Baker wasn't able to stop her attacker.

    On May 28, her lifeless body was discovered in a neighbor’s yard in Lithia.

    Prosecutor Justin Diaz told the jury the elementary school math teacher was running for her life, just like Rogers.

    "Kay Baker is lying face down on the ground in the yard of her neighbor. With every beat of her heart, her life is ending," he explained.

    Diaz said her boyfriend, Matthew Terry stabbed her to death in a jealous rage and nearly decapitated her.

    Before the attack, Terry and Baker were having drinks at a Riverview bar. Terry accused Baker of dancing with another man, but she denied it.

    Late Tuesday morning, the prosecution wrapped up its case. The defense rested without calling any witnesses and Terry decided not to testify in his own defense.

    Closing arguments concluded a few hours later, and one more hour after that, the jury returned its guilty verdict.

    The same jury will now decide whether he should spend the rest of life in prison or get a death sentence. The penalty phase of the trial begins Wednesday.

    https://www.fox13news.com/news/ex-gi...rly-killed-her
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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