ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Just days before Markeith Loyd is set to learn his sentence from a judge in the murder of Orlando police Lt. Debra Clayton, Orange County jail officials say he was involved in an incident with corrections officers.
Loyd, 46, is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday, months after a jury recommended the death penalty in Clayton’s death. Jail officials said the incident occurred Friday and officers involved are recovering.
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It is unclear how many officers were impacted.
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Details of what the incident involved or the severity of the corrections officers’ injuries has not been released.
Citing security concerns, jail officials said Wednesday that video of the incident will not be released.
A competency hearing was held last week in which two court-appointed experts who evaluated Loyd discussed their results, including Dr. Jeffrey Danziger, who went to the jail to meet with Loyd.
Danziger said Loyd has a mental illness, which plays a role when it comes to his competency and contributes to his “delusional beliefs” about the case, including hearing spirits telling him how to act in the courtroom to “expose the system.” However, when asked by Judge Leticia Marques whether Loyd would understand if he was sentenced to life or death, Danziger conceded he would.
[RELATED: Markeith Loyd awaits judge’s ruling after competency hearing ahead of scheduled sentencing]
Forensic psychologist Dr. Katherine Oses, who testified for the state and defense in the past, also found that Loyd understood he might be sentenced to death and said he was competent to proceed.
After several days, Marques ruled Loyd was competent to move forward with the sentencing.
Although the jury recommended the death penalty, the judge will make the final decision whether to sentence Loyd to death or life in prison. He was convicted on Nov. 3 of murdering Clayton in 2017 while he was on the run after killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend Sade Dixon.
He is already serving a life sentence for the 2016 murder of Dixon.