ORLANDO, Fla. — The jury in Markeith Loyd's trial in the killing of his ex-girlfriend will not be told Loyd is also accused of killing a cop.
Prosecutors and the defense spent months arguing about how much evidence can cross over from the case against Loyd in the killing of an Orlando police lieutenant to his trial in the murder of his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Sade Dixon.
The ruling will leave a major piece of evidence off limits in the Dixon trial.
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Surveillance video from the Walmart where Orlando Police Lt. Debra Clayton was gunned down allegedly ends with an unreleased section showing Loyd shooting the decorated cop at point-blank range after she's already down.
Court documents now show the jury deciding a related case, involving the deaths of Sade Dixon and her unborn baby, will never see that video.
Judge Leticia Marques decided this week the video is so graphic that showing it would turn Dixon's murder trial into Clayton's murder trial, which is supposed to come next.
"This was the murder of a police officer for absolutely no reason other than avoiding arrest," said assistant state attorney Ric Ridgway.
Last month, the video and a string of witnesses to Clayton's murder were under scrutiny at the courthouse.
Prosecutors want the Dixon case jury to know Loyd spent a month on the run after allegedly killing his ex-girlfriend, and they said he killed a cop to avoid going to prison.
But mixing facts from different murders is off limits with only a few exceptions.
"I saw the list that you gave me. How is that not going to become a central feature of this trial if you have to call that many witnesses?" Marques said.
The defense claims letting the Dixon jury know what happened to Clayton paints Loyd as a monster he's not.
The judge is allowing some testimony from the woman who recognized Loyd as a wanted man the day Clayton was killed at Walmart.
No one will be allowed to tell the jury Clayton died, because it is not necessary to prove Loyd wanted to avoid being arrested.
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