Lawyer for accused cop killer wants judge removed
Lawyers for Markeith Loyd, accused of killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend and an Orlando police officer, are asking the judge in his case to step aside, in part because he authorized wiretaps used by police during the manhunt for Loyd.
Chief Judge Frederick Lauten signed a warrant authorizing wiretaps of some of Loyd’s family members and friends after police say Loyd shot and killed Lt. Debra Clayton, who tried to arrest Loyd outside a Walmart in January 2017. Loyd was arrested in Carver Shores just over a week after Clayton’s death.
Investigators’ use of wiretaps in their investigation became public last week. Records released this week showed police listened in as Loyd debated turning himself in during the hour before his arrest.
In a motion filed Tuesday, defense attorney Terry Lenamon said Lauten’s approval of the wiretaps could keep him from being impartial.
“[Lauten’s] intimate involvement in these investigations, combined with the fact that [the] defendant only very recently learned about such involvement in any detail, causes [the] defendant to fear that he will not receive a fair trial, or that he will suffer prejudice or bias from the court,” Lenamon wrote.
Lenamon also wrote that he was concerned with how Lauten handled Loyd’s repeated insistence that he wanted to be his own lawyer.
“The court ignored or downplayed obvious deficits in the defendant’s mental state that could not pass muster,” Lenamon wrote.
Loyd could face the death penalty if convicted in the killings of Sade Dixon, who was pregnant with his child when she was shot and killed in December of 2016, and Clayton, who tried to arrest Loyd outside a Walmart in January 2017.
When Lenamon brought up the issue at last week’s hearing, Lauten said signing warrants does not preclude a judge from presiding over a case. He said he took the case because, as chief judge, his duties are mostly administrative and he does not have a large case load of his own, like judges responsible for other criminal dockets do.