Expert: Markeith Loyd has complex PTSD

Jurors hear testimony as they weigh death penalty for convicted cop killer

Markeith Loyd has complex post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from years of “chronic” trauma, an expert witness told jurors weighing the death penalty for the convicted killer of Orlando police Lt. Debra Clayton.

PTSD caused Loyd to constantly be in an “on-guard survival mentality,” said James Campbell, a clinical psychologist. Before Clayton tried to arrest Loyd at the Walmart on Princeton Street Jan. 9, 2017, for killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend, he believed police were going to kill him and his enhanced “flight or fight” response was already engaged, Campbell said.

“I think that it certainly affected his judgment and his ability to think rationally and calmly in that moment,” he told jurors.

Jurors heard testimony from defense witnesses about Loyd’s mental illness and past experiences Thursday as they prepare to recommend whether he should get life in prison or be sentenced to die. The same jury convicted Loyd of first-degree murder last month for Clayton’s killing.

Jurors must unanimously agree Loyd, 46, should face execution before a judge can give him a sentence of capital punishment.

Loyd’s trauma stems from multiple sources, including abuse and neglect as a child, Campbell said. His mother would beat him with switches, extension cords and belts for long periods of time until he cried or she got exhausted, the psychologist said.

Loyd’s sisters told jurors Wednesday their mother would disappear for days and leave them without food. Loyd stole food and clothes for his siblings and became a drug dealer as a teenager to provide for them, the sisters testified.

Another traumatic event that contributed to Loyd’s PTSD was being kidnapped as a teenager and beaten severely, Campbell said. As a young adult, he saw others being killed, including another inmate during his time in federal prison, the psychologist told jurors.

“Each traumatic experience you have, your PTSD can get worse and worse and worse,” Campbell said.

After Loyd got out of prison, he worked multiple jobs, including as a delivery driver for Texas Fried Chicken in 2016, Campbell said. Loyd became “hyper-vigilant” after being robbed at gunpoint during a delivery and began carrying a gun, he said.

Loyd has testified that he was in “warrior mode” when he shot and killed his ex-girlfriend Sade Dixon and her unborn child after an argument outside her home Dec. 13, 2016, in which she pulled a gun on him.

“People who suffer from PTSD tend to be more emotionally reactive,” he said. “They tend to react more intensely — the idea being that they’ve been in life-or-death situations before, and so their body is already a little oversensitive. It feels in danger in situations where it may not be actually in danger.”

After a nine-day manhunt following Clayton’s

death, Loyd was arrested after crawling out of an abandoned house in Carver Shores. Four OPD officers punched, kicked and hit Loyd with their rifle muzzles in a beating that caused him to lose an eye — and were eventually cleared of criminal wrongdoing and exonerated of using excessive force.

Greg McQuitter, a detective with the Orange County Sheriff ’s Office, told jurors he was on the U.S. Marshals fugitive task force sent to apprehend Loyd in 2017.

He said Loyd did not receive medical attention after the beating for at least 45 minutes despite complaining that he was in pain and asking for treatment.

This is the second time Loyd faces the possibility of capital punishment.

He was convicted of first-degree murder in 2019 for killing Dixon but avoided the death penalty after jurors recommended he be sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Jurors will return Friday morning to hear more witness testimony.