Florida inmate laughs during sentencing for killing cellmate with pen
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A Florida man convicted of killing his cellmate with a pen was seen smiling as a judge sentenced him to life in prison on Tuesday.
Marcus Terry, 43, was convicted of second-degree murder in December 2025 for stabbing his cellmate to death in the head with a pen at Dade Correctional Facility in Homestead in 2021, according to NBC Miami.
At a hearing Tuesday, Terry’s attorney, Steven Yermish, asked Judge Ellen Sue Venzer to grant his client a new trial, arguing that inadmissible evidence was presented at the hearing late last year, the publication reported.
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Marcus Terry, 43, was seen smiling as the judge sentenced him to life in prison without parole. (WSVN)
Venzer denied Yermish’s request for a new trial and sentenced his client to life in prison without the possibility of parole as he described how Terry fatally inserted a pen into the brain of his cellmate, 64-year-old Ray Matos.
“He put a pillowcase in his mouth. When the guards came in to find out what was going on, he was standing over this guy and his hand was bloody,” Venzer said.
As the judge recounted the details of the murder, Terry began to smile and laugh.
“I don’t know why you’re laughing,” Venzer told him.
Marcus Terry was convicted of second-degree murder in December for killing his cellmate in 2021. (Miami-Dade Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)
“You’re fun,” Terry replied.
The judge said he found “nothing amusing about your behavior or the death of this gentleman.”
“May God have mercy on your soul,” Venzer said at sentencing.
According to NBC Miami, Terry can now appeal his sentence.
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Ray Matos was killed by Marcus Terry at Dade Correctional Institution in Homestead. (Florida Department of Corrections)
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Court records show Terry was serving a life sentence for armed burglary and armed robbery when he killed Matos, who had been his cellmate for less than a week.
According to the arrest warrant, Matos was found lying in a pool of blood on the cell floor, with Terry sitting on the bottom bunk bed.
