ORLANDO, Fla. – Double murder suspect Markeith Loyd said he was framed for the deaths of his pregnant ex-girlfriend and an Orlando police officer during a courtroom outburst on Wednesday.
Loyd was in court with his lawyers on Wednesday to discuss several motions related to both of his upcoming trials. Defense attorney Terry Lenamon was discussing surveillance video taken from a John Young Parkway Walmart that authorities say shows Loyd fatally shooting Orlando police Lt. Debra Clayton on Jan. 9, 2017.
It was after Lenamon discussed the particulars of the video -- saying that it showed Loyd had the choice of either "kill or be killed" during the confrontation with Clayton -- that Loyd began to speak.
"They're framing me," Loyd said.
Judge Frederick Lauten cautioned Loyd against speaking out of turn.
"If you insist on speaking, I don't know if I'm going to stop you, but I'm trying to help you here," Lauten said.
Loyd told the judge that he's a "grown man" who wants to get the truth out about the cases.
"I've been framed for murder, a murder I don't know nothing about. They were paying witnesses," Loyd said.
He also spoke about conditions in jail.
"I'm in jail, I ain't had a hot meal in two years and the same (company) that feeds you, Aramark, they own the commissary so they feeding you trash and you gotta have money to buy commissary," Loyd said.
When Lauten again warned Loyd that prosecutors could use his outburst against him during his trials, Loyd insisted that he knows the law and he was only trying to get his perspective heard.
"If you (speak) the truth, they'll use that to make up a better lie to still get you," Loyd said.
He spoke little about the particular accusations against him but did mention that he had wanted the family of his pregnant ex-girlfriend Sade Dixon to turn him in so that Dixon's children could benefit from the reward money.
That outburst was the second during Wednesday's hourlong hearing.
The first happened during discussion regarding a defense motion requesting access to raw footage from a TV station that interviewed one of Loyd's family members. When an attorney for the TV station said the footage had been deleted, Loyd said, “They destroyed the video because they don’t want the truth to get out."
Lauten ruled that the motion was irrelevant since the footage no longer exists.
He also ruled that the defense could have access to documents related to phone calls that were wiretapped and documents related to a use of force investigation, if one was conducted, into Clayton's approach when she confronted Loyd.
Lenamon also requested news releases from local authorities that pertained to the deaths of Dixon or Clayton and the manhunt for Loyd in an attempt to clarify how the information that was distributed to the media was obtained.
Lauten ruled that any records, if they exist, should be turned over.
Loyd, if convicted on either first-degree murder charges, will face the death penalty. His first trial is scheduled to begin in May.