Judge sets September 2018 trial for Loyd in ex-girlfriend’s killing
Accused killer Markeith Loyd could face a jury to decide his guilt in the death of his pregnant ex-girlfriend on Sept. 10, 2018, Chief Judge Frederick Lauten decided Monday in Loyd’s first court hearing since April.
Loyd is accused of murder in the killings of 24-year-old Sade Dixon and Orlando Police Lt. Debra Clayton, who was shot while trying to arrest him.
A trial date for the charges he faces in Clayton’s killing has not been set.
During the hearing on April 12, Lauten declined Loyd’s request to appoint defense attorney Terry Lenamon, a Miamibased death penalty expert. Loyd had said he wanted to represent himself after his arrest in January but changed his mind and said he wanted Lenamon to represent him.
Lauten declined his request at the time, saying Loyd has the right to an attorney but does not have the right to chose any attorney he wants, because the state will pay for his legal representation. Loyd agreed to let Lauten appoint Roger Weeden, a local defense attorney.
On Monday, Weeden argued that Lenamon should be allowed to join him as cocounsel because of “the nature of the charges and the extreme need for trust between the attorneys and the accused.”
Weeden said Loyd needed Lenamon’s help to “develop a trust relationship with the client.”
Weeden said that Loyd needed counsel he could trust because he developed a deep mistrust of law enforcement and the legal system when he was indicted in another homicide in 1996. The case ultimately was not tried because of “law enforcement’s apparent manipulation of witnesses in that case,” Weeden said.
Lauten said the 1996 case outcome should have encouraged Loyd’s faith in court-appointed attorneys.
“So Mr. Loyd has had some success with court-appointed attorneys” because the case was dropped, Lauten said. “That’s about as much success as you can have.”
Loyd then interjected from the jury box where he was being held by two officers in bulletproof vests.
“The investigator was lying, that’s why it got [dropped],” Loyd said. “The witness was being framed.”
Lauten denied Weeden’s request, noting that Lenamon was not on the Orange-Osceola Circuit Court’s list of approved public defenders. Lauten said Lenamon had applied to be on the list in 2016 but was refused because of how far away Lenamon lived.
“I think he’s qualified, but I think there is a reason why that list is maintained circuitby-circuit,” Weeden said. “You’re asking the government to pay for him.”