The same jury who found Markeith Loyd guilty of the shooting death of pregnant former girlfriend Sade Dixon and her unborn child last week handed down a sentence of life in prison Wednesday.
The jury, as read in the sentencing verdict, did not find the aggravating factors sufficient for a death sentence.
The jury, who deliberated for less than an hour, had one of two choices: the death penalty, or a life sentence without parole.
Loyd was present when the sentence was handed down — despite a decision earlier in the morning not to be.
“I don’t care what they say. I don’t care what they think. I’m ready to go,” Loyd told Ninth District Judge Leticia Marques.
Defense attorney Terry Lenamon argued in closing arguments Wednesday morning that Loyd was not in his right mind went he went to Dixon’s house on Dec. 13, 2016, because he knew Sade had a gun, and she yelled a threat to Markeith that her brother Ronald Stewart would “kick his a–.”
“All you have to do is say ‘I’m voting life.’ Just one of you. And no one’s going to know,” Lenamon said in a plea to the jury to choose a life sentence in prison.
Tuesday, defense experts testified that Loyd suffers from mental illness, like PTSD, thanks to “a difficult childhood.”
But witnesses brought forward by the prosecution said his disorders were personality-based and narcissistic, and there lacked evidence that he was psychotic during the shooting.
Loyd will be tried in 2020 for the shooting death of Orlando Police Department Lt. Debra Clayton, who police say he shot to death at a Wal-Mart on Jan. 9, 2017, when she tried to apprehend Loyd.
