Matthew Terry in the Kay Baker Case: Trial, Life Sentence, Appeal

The Matthew Terry and Kay Baker case ended on November 17, 2022, when a Hillsborough County, Florida jury convicted Matthew Robertson Terry of first-degree premeditated murder for stabbing his girlfriend, 43-year-old elementary school teacher Kay Elizabeth Baker, and then declined to recommend the death penalty. Circuit Judge Christopher C. Sabella sentenced Terry, 47, to life in prison without the possibility of parole.¹

The Night Kay Baker Was Killed

On the evening of May 27, 2022, Terry and Baker went out with friends to the Landing Bar and Grill in Valrico, Florida. Prosecutors said Terry became enraged after accusing Baker of dancing with a man she did not know, and witnesses described him as being in a jealous rage. At one point he told others, “I want to protect my queen and my kingdom.” Later, coming out of the bathroom, he told Baker to “just own up to it.”²

The couple left the bar and continued arguing. Investigators believe Baker locked herself in a bedroom of their home in Lithia and tried to escape through a window. A bedroom window with a pushed-out screen and a trail of blood leading outside confirmed the flight path. Shortly after midnight on May 28, a neighbor heard screaming and a thump. Baker’s body was found between two houses in a neighbor’s yard. She had been stabbed multiple times and, according to prosecutors, was “nearly decapitated,” with additional stab wounds to her shoulder.³

Sheriff’s deputies followed a blood trail into a wooded area, where bloodhounds tracked Terry to a patch of overgrown brush. He was wearing a blood-soaked T-shirt and underwear and had lacerations on his hands and fingers, scratches on his forearms, and two symmetrical stab wounds on his neck. Authorities characterized the neck wounds as self-inflicted, based on the pattern of blood pooling where he had been hiding.⁴ Terry declined to speak with investigators without an attorney and was taken into custody.

Who Kay Baker Was

Kay Elizabeth Baker was a third-grade math and science teacher at Cypress Creek Elementary School in Ruskin, Florida, and a mother of two.⁵³⁶

Terry’s 2017 Stabbing of a Previous Girlfriend

Terry had a documented history of violence against intimate partners. On St. Patrick’s Day 2017, while living in Michigan with his then-girlfriend Michelle Rogers, Terry came home intoxicated and attacked her. Rogers testified that he knocked her to the floor, punched her repeatedly in the face, chest, and back, and slammed her head into the floor until she lost consciousness. He then retrieved a knife and stabbed her in the neck, followed by three stab wounds to her shoulder as she tried to escape. Rogers wrestled the knife away from him.⁷

Terry served three years in a Michigan prison for that attack.⁸ Over defense objections, the Florida trial court allowed Rogers to testify about the assault, and she showed the jury her lasting scars.

The Death Penalty Reversal After Warren’s Suspension

The question of whether to seek death against Terry became tangled in a separate political dispute. Then–Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren initially decided not to pursue a death sentence, citing the wishes of Baker’s family, and planned instead to seek an enhanced sentence based on Terry’s prior Michigan felony.⁹

On August 4, 2022, Governor Ron DeSantis suspended Warren from office, citing Warren’s public statements that he would not enforce certain state laws regarding abortion and transgender health care. Susan Lopez was appointed to replace him. In one of her first official acts, Lopez reversed Warren’s decision and filed notice to seek the death penalty against Terry, calling the killing “especially heinous, cruel, and atrocious.” Warren released a video characterizing the governor’s actions as an attempt to “overthrow democracy” and announced plans to contest the suspension.⁹

The Speedy Trial Gamble

Terry’s defense team then made what legal observers called a “very rare move” in a capital case: they refused to waive Terry’s constitutional right to a speedy trial. That forced prosecutors to assemble a death-penalty case within a 175-day window.¹⁰

Hillsborough Public Defender Julianne Holt said the choice was “a strategic one with a full appreciation of the severity of the case.” Attorney Eddie Suarez explained that if a defense team believes the prosecution is less prepared than it is, forcing a quick trial can be effective. Attorney John Lauro cautioned it was a “risky strategy” because the state has significant resources and can mobilize quickly. Lopez responded by dedicating substantial personnel to the case, personally covering depositions and helping develop trial strategy with lead prosecutors Justin Diaz and Darrell Dirks.¹¹

The Trial Evidence and Defense Theory

The five-day trial began in mid-November 2022. Although the murder weapon was never recovered, prosecutors presented DNA and physical evidence connecting Terry to the crime scene, including the blood trail from the home to Baker’s body and Terry’s own injuries, which Diaz argued were consistent with committing the attack. Neighbor testimony about the screaming and a 911 call were introduced, along with bodycam footage from K-9 handler Deputy Kalen Hall showing deputies entering the bloody home and tracking Terry to the woods. Deputy Jared Curtis testified about Terry’s neck lacerations and the blood and scratches on his hands, arms, and clothing; prosecutors characterized the neck wounds as a suicide attempt after the killing.¹²

The defense argued the case was circumstantial and floated a theory that an “unseen, unidentified intruder” had attacked both Terry and Baker, causing them to flee through the window, and that the blood on Terry’s clothing came from him being attacked and then trying to help Baker.³ Defense attorneys also pointed to incomplete blood-sample testing as evidence the state’s case was premature given the compressed timeline. The defense called no witnesses. Terry told the court he wanted to testify but was following his attorneys’ advice: “My desire is to testify. However, I am going to follow my attorneys’ advice and not testify.”

Verdict, Penalty Phase, and Life Sentence

On November 15, 2022, the jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty of first-degree premeditated murder.¹¹

The trial moved immediately into a penalty phase. Diaz told the jury Baker would have been “conscious and aware that death is coming.”¹³ Rogers returned to the stand and again showed the jury her scars. Baker’s sister Carrie Reebals told the jury, “Today I stand by my sister. I miss my sister. The loss of Kay in our family is profound,” and asked for a death sentence.¹⁴ The defense presented mitigating testimony from Terry’s family, friends, and experts, and accused Lopez of “playing politics” by seeking death after Warren’s removal. The defense filed a motion for a mistrial during the penalty phase, which the judge denied.⁶

On November 17, 2022, the jury declined to recommend the death penalty, and Judge Sabella sentenced Terry to life in prison without parole.¹

Post-Trial Motion and Appeal

Almost immediately after sentencing, Terry turned on his own defense attorneys. He filed a motion for a new trial, claiming public defenders Donna Perry and Jamie Kane had made “false promises” to him in exchange for his agreement not to testify. “I want the record to reflect that a promise was made in exchange for not testifying,” Terry told the court. Both attorneys denied it. Perry said no promises had been made. Kane said the only commitment he gave was that Perry’s closing arguments and any theories presented would be “based on the admissible evidence.”¹⁵

On December 15, 2022, Judge Sabella denied both the motion for a new trial and a motion for judgment of acquittal, ruling that the accusations about the attorneys’ conduct would be addressed after Terry’s direct appeals were exhausted. Terry appealed to Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal. On May 24, 2024, a three-judge panel of Judges Kelly, LaRose, and LaBrit affirmed the conviction in a per curiam decision.¹⁶

As of the most recent available records, Terry is incarcerated at Hardee Correctional Institution in Florida, serving life without the possibility of parole.¹⁷

1
Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office. Jury Declines to Impose the Death Penalty for Hillsborough County Man Found Guilty in Murder of Beloved School Teacher
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FOX 13 News. Jurors See Last Moments of Murder Victim’s Life as Her Boyfriend Faces Death Penalty
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Oxygen. Matthew Robertson Terry Convicted in Kay Baker Murder
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Law & Crime. Man on Trial for Allegedly Murdering Fleeing Girlfriend
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Patch. Death Penalty Sought in Stabbing Death of Ruskin School Teacher
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Court TV. FL v. Matthew Terry: Math Teacher Murder Trial
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FOX 13 News. Ex-Girlfriend of Accused Murderer Matthew Terry Describes Stabbing That Nearly Killed Her
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Law & Crime. Ex-Girlfriend Testifies at Murder Trial About Surviving Matthew Terry on St. Patrick’s Day in 2017
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WUSF. Hillsborough New State Attorney Reverses Warren, Seeks Death Penalty in Teacher Stabbing
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Tampa Bay Times. Hillsborough Death Penalty Case Proceeds on Speedy Trial Timeline
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Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office. Jury Finds Hillsborough County Man Guilty in Murder of Beloved School Teacher
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FOX 13 News. Jury Shown Dramatic Bodycam Video in Matthew Terry Murder Trial
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FOX 13 News. Jury Weighs Death Penalty After Mathew Terry Was Convicted in Girlfriend’s Stabbing Death
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FOX 13 News. Convicted Murderer’s Parents Plead for Mercy While Victim’s Family Wants Death
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FOX 13 News. Convicted Murderer Matthew Terry Wants New Trial
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FindLaw. Matthew Robertson Terry v. State of Florida, No. 2D2022-4042
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Yahoo Entertainment. American Monster: Where Is Matthew Terry Now