CLEVELAND -- An Ohio man says he lunged at his daughter's killer in court because the defendant smiled disrespectfully at him.

Courtroom deputies in Cleveland grabbed Van Terry after he leaped across a courtroom table Thursday minutes after a judge sentenced Michael Madison to death in the killings of his daughter and two other women.

Terry told WJW-TV that he was thinking about his daughter when he went after Madison. Madison didn't appear to be injured.

A court officer tackles the father of one of three victims of Ohio serial killer Michael Madison, left, who leaped over a table to attack the defendant in court just minutes after the judge pronounced a death sentence in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court June 2, 2016, in Cleveland. AP Photo/David Richard

Prosecutors say Madison mutilated Terry's 18-year-old daughter Shirellda Terry.

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Terry family members told CBS Cleveland affiliate WOIO-TV that Madison was smiling at them during their final testimonies.

"He was upset because when he's telling you that he lost his baby, his baby girl, that's his baby, OK? That's his heaven," Van Terry's sister Sonya Richardson told the station. "That's his slice of heaven. He's sitting over there smiling like, 'Yeah.'"

Richardson said it looked like Madison was just brushing off their heartfelt comments about Shirellda Terry, WOIO-TV reports.

The victims' bodies were found near Madison's East Cleveland apartment in 2013.

Terry says it's fine if he's charged with going after Madison because he did the right thing.

A spokesman for the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office says the attack is being reviewed.