ORLANDO, Fla. _ Markeith Loyd had several chances to leave after a fight with his pregnant ex-girlfriend Sade Dixon outside her house in December 2016.
Instead, prosecutors argued, he raised his gun and squeezed the trigger over and over again, shooting eight times to end the life of Dixon and her unborn child.
"All of this could have been avoided if the defendant just left like he was told," Assistant State Attorney Rich Buxman told jurors. "Instead, the defendant was going to finish what he started."
Loyd's attorney, Terence Lenamon, argued Loyd was defending himself, but police decided to make his client the "villain." He accused Dixon's family of fabricating a story to get Loyd convicted of first-degree murder.
"I'm sorry you lost your daughter, but do you make up stuff because you want to kill this man?" Lenamon asked. "Because you want the community to authorize a needle in this man's arm?"
The 12-person jury began deliberating just before 1 p.m. Wednesday after hearing closing arguments in Loyd's trial at the Orange County Courthouse. Loyd, 44, faces the possibility of execution if jurors find him guilty of first-degree murder in the December 2016 killing of Dixon.
Loyd testified on the witness stand he never meant to shoot Dixon and argued he gunned her down in self-defense.
"I wanted my child," Loyd told jurors. "I never meant to kill my queen."
Jurors saw videos of the couple in happy moments, but Loyd testified he often fought with Dixon because she lied to him about smoking weed while pregnant and eating meat.
Loyd testified Dixon texted him "don't expect no baby" after they broke up, which Loyd interpreted to mean she was getting an abortion. He told jurors on Monday he planned to stay with Dixon until her pregnancy was far enough along that she couldn't terminate it.
Loyd said he went to Dixon's house the night of Dec. 13, 2016, to convince her not to get an abortion. The accused killer said his ex-girlfriend pulled a gun on him, which he took away and stored with his two guns before her brother Ronald Stewart came outside to check on them.
Police say, after an argument, Loyd shot Dixon and Stewart as they were walking back into their house.
"Sade Dixon and her unborn child are dead because of Markeith Loyd," Buxman said.
But Loyd's defense attorneys argued Stewart attacked Loyd, leading to a tussle that ended with a gun going off and hitting Stewart. Loyd said he thought Dixon had picked up a gun he dropped in the fight and just kept shooting at her after going into "warrior mode."
But Stewart testified he never attacked Loyd.
In the state's closing arguments, Buxman argued the defense would have jurors believe Loyd is the "victim" of every bad thing that's happened to him.
"We ask you to hold him accountable for his actions and his choices," Buxman said.
Prosecutors are also seeking the death penalty for Loyd in the slaying of Orlando police Lt. Debra Clayton, who police say was shot and killed by Loyd after she tried to arrest him Jan. 9, 2017, at a Walmart.
Loyd's trial in Clayton's killing is scheduled for 2020.
