Expert: Killer grew up like ‘weed in a manure patch’
Jury weighs death penalty in Loyd trial sentencing
Markeith Loyd grew up in a “poisoned environment,” an expert witness on race told jurors Monday.
His father died when he was 3 and his mother didn’t establish boundaries for him, according to Marvin Dunn, a historian and the former chairman of Florida International University’s psychology department. By the third grade, he couldn’t read and he was stealing food to feed his siblings.
Dunn testified the convicted killer’s history of mental illness combined with his paranoia led him to believe Loyd was “psychotic.”
“He grew up like a weed in a manure patch,” the former psychologist told jurors.
The testimony about Loyd’s childhood and developmental disabilities came as the jury in his murder trial decides whether he should get life in prison or be sentenced to die for killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend Sade Dixon and her unborn child.
The only two possible sentences are death or life in prison without parole, and Loyd can only be sent to death row if the 12-member jury recommends it unanimously. Loyd, 44, was convicted last week of first-degree murder in Dixon’s 2016 killing, as well as of attempting to murder three of her family members.
During opening statements in the trial’s penalty phase at the Orange County Courthouse, Loyd’s attorney Terence Lenamon said his client will die in prison for killing Dixon — but jurors will have
to decide whether that’s from natural causes or a lethal injection.
“The only thing you have to decide is whether the government — the state of Florida — takes his life,” Loyd’s attorney Terence Lenamon told jurors. “This is about whether you are going to sanction the killing of a human being.”
Assistant State Attorney Rich Buxman told jurors Loyd faces two death sentences for the killings of Dixon and her unborn child, and asked them to consider different aggravating factors for each conviction, including that the victim of the capital felony was under 12 years old and testimony from an Orlando police officer who said Loyd beat him during an arrest in 1998.
Dixon was 12 to 13 weeks pregnant at the time of her murder, and prosecutors have argued it shouldn’t matter that Dixon’s fetus was not viable.
“We will ask that you find … the death penalty is the appropriate penalty for the murder of Sade Dixon and her unborn child,” Buxman said.
Lenamon argued Loyd’s traumatic childhood experiences, as well as a history of mental illness, should be considered by the jury as they weigh the death penalty. The attorney said an expert found Loyd had a “significant delusional disorder” on the psychiatric spectrum.
“He’s not insane, but it’s a consideration that you must now put into play,” Lenamon told jurors.
Loyd’s mother, Patricia Loyd, testified her son’s father beat her until he died when Loyd was about 3 years old.
His siblings testified about Loyd being taken to a mental institution when he was young and giving their mother money to pay bills. One of his sisters, Tonya Loyd, said they would often go hungry but her brother would steal bread and baloney for them to eat.
“I’ve always been proud to call Markeith Loyd my big brother, and that’ll never change,” Tonya Loyd told jurors.
At 16, Loyd was dealing drugs and he once was beaten so badly he looked like the “Elephant Man,” his mother said. She reported it to the police, but she said they didn’t take it seriously.
“He didn’t trust police,” she said. “He wasn’t right.”
Loyd was known for giving money to his mother and helping people who didn’t have a place to stay, his mother said. But Patricia Loyd testified her son began to change after being incarcerated in federal prison, where someone tried to kill him.
“He don’t believe that God has a son,” she told jurors. “He don’t eat meat, and it’s strange. … It wasn’t anything that I was brought up on, that I raised him on.”
Prosecutors are also seeking the death penalty for Loyd in the killing of Orlando police Lt. Debra Clayton, who police say was fatally shot by Loyd after she tried to arrest him Jan. 9, 2017, at a Walmart on Princeton Street. Loyd’s trial in Clayton’s slaying is scheduled for next year.
Last week, Loyd testified he never meant to shoot Dixon eight times and argued he gunned her down in self-defense after her brother attacked him.
Loyd said he and Dixon had been fighting because she lied to him about smoking weed while pregnant and eating meat, and had each accused the other of being unfaithful. Loyd testified Dixon texted him “don’t expect no baby” after they broke up, which Loyd interpreted to mean she was getting an abortion.
The convicted killer said he went to Dixon’s house the night of Dec. 13, 2016, to convince her not to terminate the pregnancy.
Loyd 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. Prosecutors said, after an argument, Loyd shot Dixon and Stewart as they were walking back into their house after telling him to go away.
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 he went into “warrior mode,” shooting at her and family members who rushed outside to help.
But Stewart, who survived the shooting, testified he never attacked Loyd.
Loyd’s trial is being handled by prosecutors with the office of Ocala-based State Attorney Brad King. Former Gov. Rick Scott reassigned Loyd’s case and dozens of other capital cases to King’s office after Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala said in 2017 she would not consider the death penalty.