In our legal system, every defendant is supposed to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, and they must have the chance to contest criminal charges. That includes the option to testify in their defense. It’s their right to make this decision, and no one else’s. Whether taking the stand in a given case is a good idea? That’s another question.
Murder defendant Markeith Loyd testified on Monday in his trial for killing pregnant ex-girlfriend Sade Dixon. Panelists on the Law&Crime Network agreed that Loyd’s testimony only helped the state.
Host Bob Bianchi had this response to the direct examination: “Wow.”
Trial attorney and panelist Leslie Ricard Chambers was similarly flabbergasted, describing the testimony to something from the show Law & Order.
“This is like Christmas on Columbus Day for any prosecutor in a courtroom,” she said, adding that she was “speechless.”
New York Law School Professor and panelist Kirk Buckhalter said he couldn’t keep track of the testimony.
“This is just incredible,” he said. “Between the rocking in the chair, and the discussion of–as you mentioned–race, queens, and sisters, and booty shorts, and everything–I agree. I can’t keep track.”
The defense is trying to show that the shooting death happened after Dixon confronted the defendant with a firearm. The prosecution said, however, that Loyd was determined to kill her.
During direct examination, the defendant acknowledged his release from prison in 2014 in a federal drug case. He discussed leaving a previous girlfriend because she smoked cigarettes. On meeting Dixon, he asked her for her credit score because he was looking for a serious relationship.
#MarkeithLoyd – Loyd says he met Sade Dixon through Facebook. In a PM he told her she was cute but, “what’s your credit score?” pic.twitter.com/6XVOAzpcUl
— Law & Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) October 14, 2019
#MarkeithLoyd – Loyd said when he met Dixon he wasn’t just looking for sex, he wanted a family. He met her for the first time, she came out wearing “booty shorts’, he said Queens don’t dress like that. He said that’s exposing yourself to the world. pic.twitter.com/MaZEmQkeUi
— Law & Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) October 14, 2019
When asked for an example of queens, Loyd mentioned his sisters. He also argued that his use of “cracker” wasn’t a racial slur.
At opening statements, the defense claimed that Loyd and Dixon had problems over her marijuana smoking and meat eating. During testimony, Loyd explained why he cut animals out of his diet.
“I don’t believe in death,” the murder defendant said. “I don’t believe in killing God’s creation.”
Chambers suggested that during cross-examination, the state should immediately go into the facts of Dixon’s shooting death. She said the direct examination by itself was laying out the defendant’s character to the benefit of the state.
“And really there’s not a whole lot of that that the prosecution needs to reiterate,” she said, adding the state only needed to do a little bit more to reinforce that Loyd, not Dixon, was the agitator in the fatal incident.
Both panelists agreed that Loyd’s testimony was a huge boon to the state, even just during the direct examination. Chambers said the prosecution was “doing everything” by doing nothing.
“The defense is doing a great job for the prosecution,” Buckhalter said.
[Screengrab via Law&Crime Network]
