Loyd says he was in ‘warrior mode’
Defense rests in trial of man accused of killing pregnant ex-girlfriend
Under questioning from prosecutors, Markeith Loyd testified Tuesday he was in “warrior mode” when he shot his pregnant ex-girlfriend Sade Dixon, killing her and their unborn child.
On the witness stand in his trial at the Orange County Courthouse, Loyd said the shooting wasn’t his fault because he had been attacked by Dixon’s brother and “just was reacting” when he gunned the siblings down.
“You’re really the victim today here, aren’t you?” Assistant State Attorney Ric Ridgway asked the accused killer in front of jurors. “Of course,” Loyd said. Loyd, 44, faces the possibility of execution if jurors find him guilty of first-degree murder in Dixon’s slaying.
Loyd’s defense attorneys rested their case Tuesday morning after Loyd’s testimony ended. Closing arguments in the trial will start Wednesday morning.
The accused killer testified for nearly five hours Monday. He told jurors he never meant to shoot Dixon his pregnant ex-girlfriend eight times and argued it was selfdefense.
“I wanted my child,” Loyd said. “I never meant to kill my queen.”
Loyd testified Dixon texted him “don’t expect no baby” after they broke up, which Loyd interpreted to mean she was getting an abortion. He told jurors on Monday he planned to stay with Dixon until her pregnancy was far enough along that she couldn’t terminate it.
Loyd said he went to Dixon’s house the night of Dec. 13, 2016, to
convince her not to get an abortion. The accused killer said his ex-girlfriend pulled a gun on him, which he took away and stored with his two guns before her brother Ronald Stewart came outside to check on them.
Police say after an argument, Loyd shot Dixon and Stewart as they were walking back into their house.
But Loyd’s defense attorneys argued Stewart attacked Loyd, leading to a tussle that ended with a gun going off and hitting Stewart. Loyd said he thought Dixon had picked up a gun he dropped in the fight and just kept shooting at her after going into “defense mode.”
“It was life or death,” Loyd told jurors Monday.
But Stewart testified he never attacked Loyd. Assistant State Attorney Ric Ridgway asked Loyd how a bullet fragment struck the concrete under Stewart if Loyd wasn’t standing over him and shooting downward.
“Can you explain how it hit the concrete?” Ridgway asked. “No,” Loyd said.
Loyd also faces the death penalty in the slaying of Orlando police Lt. Debra Clayton, who police say was shot and killed by Loyd after she tried to arrest him Jan. 9, 2017, at a Walmart on Princeton Street. Jurors can’t hear about Clayton’s death, but prosecutors asked Loyd Tuesday why he didn’t turn himself in to police in the weeks after Dixon’s killing.
“I don’t trust the police,” Loyd said. “I thought they were gonna kill me.”
The accused killer’s trial in Clayton’s killing is scheduled for 2020.