A jury of Markeith Loyd’s peers has spoken and recommended the death penalty for the murder of Orlando Police Lt. Debra Clayton, a UCF graduate.
Whether or not Loyd will actually be sentenced to death is in the hands of the sentencing judge. Loyd indicated that he wanted to be sentenced immediately but it appears he will be sentenced in January. At that hearing, the judge will likely give Loyd the opportunity to provide mitigating evidence before sentence is imposed.
Early in the case, it appeared that the death penalty would be off the table for Loyd, because the prosecutor at the time did not plan to seek it.
But the trajectory of Loyd’s case took a drastic turn when former governor Rick Scott removed former Ninth Circuit State Attorney Aramis Ayala from the case.
Ayala, who fervently opposes the death penalty, expressed that she wouldn’t seek death in this case or any other that qualified for capital punishment. Scott disagreed with Ayala’s position, which turned into a question for the Supreme Court of Florida.
The essence of Ayala’s argument is that the people of Orange and Osceola counties elected her to serve their interests as state attorney and the state government should not dismiss the role of local elected leaders. This argument certainly became more prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic as current Governor Ron Desantis restricted the ability of local leaders to enact regulatory measures. Again, many of the local leaders argued that they know what’s best for their community — more so than those who don’t reside there.
Even if the judge decides to accept the jury recommendation and sentence Loyd to death, it is unclear if execution will actually ever occur considering a myriad of circumstances that could impact the legality of execution in the State of Florida and the United States.
Execution is not a fast process. One of the quicker durations spent on death row was in the case of John Allen Muhammad, known for committing various murders through the year of 2002 known as the “Beltway Sniper”. Muhammad was executed roughly four years later after being denied any relief from the courts or governor.
Nevertheless, at this time the death penalty is legal in Florida and the United States, however, the makeup of the Florida Supreme Court and United States Supreme Court, and intervening precedent, may impact the procedural and substantive law surrounding capital punishment.
