CLEVELAND Michael Madison, a East Cleveland man convicted of murdering three women and keeping their bodies wrapped in plastic as trophies, was sentenced on Thursday to death by an OH county judge.
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WGNTV reported that Terry’s sister told local media that the attack was provoked after Madison taunted and smiled at the victim’s families during sentencing.
Court officials got to Terry before he came close enough to Madison to attack him, but Terry’s actions speak for themselves, and the real emotional damage losing a loved one to a senseless act like murder can cause.
Authorities and other people inside the courtroom grabbed Van Terry and took him out.
Madison appeared in court Thursday afternoon to hear the decision.
Panic alarms were triggered throughout the Cuyahoga County Justice Center after Van Terry, father of Shirellda Terry, turned from the podium where he was speaking, leapt across the table and grappled at Madison’s face.
Inside, police found the decaying body of a woman wrapped in garbage bags that were sealed closed with tape.
On Thursday, Judge McDonnell accepted a jury’s recommendation 38-year-old Madison should receive the death penalty. The judge could have chosen life in prison with no chance of parole.
During his trial, Madison’s lawyers did not argue that he didn’t kill the women, only that their murders weren’t premeditated.
The discovery of the bodies in 2013 drew national attention to the possibility that another serial killer like Anthony Sowell had been killing women in and around Cleveland.
The same jury convicted Madison earlier this month of multiple counts of aggravated murder and kidnapping.
“This history of abuse and his dysfunctional upbringing certainly doesn’t excuse what happened here but certainly provides a basis for understanding the type of person Michael Madison evolved into”, defence attorney David Grant told the judge Thursday.
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He was found guilty of killing 38-year-old Angela Deskins, 28-year-old Shetisha Sheeley and 18-year-old Shirellda Terry. Police found the mostly nude bodies of 11 women throughout the home.
