Florida prisoner laughs as judge sentences him to life for killing cellmate with pen: ‘You are amusing’

A Florida man convicted of killing his cellmate with a pen smiled and laughed as a judge sentenced him to life in prison Tuesday.

Marcus Terry, 43, was found guilty of second-degree murder in December 2025 for killing his cellmate inside the Dade Correctional Institution in Homestead in 2021 by stabbing him in the head with a pen, according to NBC Miami.

During a court appearance on Tuesday, Terry’s lawyer, Steven Yermish, asked Judge Ellen Sue Venzer to grant his client a new trial, arguing that inadmissible evidence was presented at trial at the end of last year, the outlet reported.

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Venzer rejected Yermish’s motion for a new trial and sentenced his client to life behind bars without the possibility of parole, as she described how Terry fatally pushed a pen into the brain of his cellmate, 64-year-old Ray Matos.

“He shoved a pillowcase into his mouth. When the guards came in to find out what was going on, he was standing on top of this man, and his hand was bloodied,” Venzer said.

As the judge was detailing the murder, Terry began smiling and laughing.

“I’m not sure why you’re laughing,” Venzer said to him.

“You are amusing,” Terry responded.

The judge replied that she “found nothing amusing about your behavior or the death of this gentleman.”

“God have mercy on your soul,” Venzer said while handing down his sentence.

Terry may now appeal his sentence, according to NBC Miami.

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Terry was already serving a life sentence for armed burglary and armed robbery when he killed Matos, who was his cellmate for less than a week, court records showed.

Matos was found on the ground in the cell, lying in a pool of blood as Terry sat on the lower bunk, according to an arrest warrant.