A new prosecutor has been assigned

by Gov. Rick Scott’s office to handle the investigation into force used by Orlando police in arresting suspected cop killer Markeith Loyd.

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An investigation into Orlando police officers’ use of force when arresting suspected cop killer Markeith Loyd last year has been assigned to Seminole-Brevard State Attorney Phil Archer, the governor decided.

The assignment comes after State Attorneys Aramis Ayala and Brad King clashed via emails about who had jurisdiction over the investigation.

Ayala, state attorney for Orange and Osceola counties, argued that the case became King’s responsibility after Gov. Rick Scott removed her from Loyd’s murder cases. King said he inquired with the governor’s general counsel and believed he was only tasked with cases in which Loyd is the defendant. King — who is based in Ocala — oversees Lake, Marion, Sumter, Citrus and Hernando counties.

“So there is no miscommunication, I do not have jurisdiction to review Mr. Loyd’s request,” King wrote Dec. 8. “That is the prerogative of your office.”

In Ayala’s response, she pointed to a sentence in the governor’s executive order that states “… the investigation, prosecution, and all matters related to Markeith Loyd.” She also took issue with King’s conversations with the governor’s general counsel.

“I do not believe now is the appropriate time to deviate from the plain language of the Order,” Ayala wrote.

The governor’s general counsel contacted Ayala to ask whether the state attorney wanted the case reassigned, and Scott issued an executive order Dec. 18 assigning the case to Archer.

A weeklong manhunt was launched for Loyd after police say he shot Orlando Police Lt. Debra Clayton in a Walmart parking lot Jan. 9, 2017. He already was suspected of killing his pregnant former girlfriend, Sade Dixon, in December 2016.

The search led police to an abandoned house in the Carver Shores neighborhood where Loyd was hiding Jan. 17.

Police released a tape showing one of the officers kicking him in the head as he was on the ground. Officers said they used force because Loyd resisted arrest. In his first court appearance, Loyd asked how he resisted and said he crawled on his stomach toward officers.

He required surgery on his left eye and became permanently blind as a result, according to records.

Loyd wrote a letter to Ayala saying he wanted to “press charges on the officers that tortured me.”

Orlando police were investigating the arrest internally when they learned about the letter Dec. 11, Sgt. Eduardo Bernal said. On Dec. 19, Police Chief John Mina asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to handle the investigation. The state agency’s investigation is still pending, a spokesperson said Friday.

It wasn’t the first time Loyd accused police of “torture” during the arrest.

The Orlando Sentinel received a hand-written letter from Loyd on Sept. 20.

“… So they [the police] knew I was turning myself in and they camed [sic] and tortured me,” he wrote.

The governor’s communications director, John Tupps, issued a statement saying the assignment will not affect King’s prosecution.

Loyd is slated to stand trial for Dixon’s death in September and for Clayton’s killing in January 2019. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.