Indigent Defense in Capital Cases

Today’s hearing in the Markeith Loyd death penalty case resulted in the court’s ruling that the Florida capital case will not go to trial until sometime in Spring 2021, at the earliest.

You can watch a video from a part of these proceedings, where Terence Lenamon is in the courtroom (this is not a virtual

Three new motions have been filed in the defense of Markeith Loyd in his death penalty trial by Terence Lenamon. These have all been placed in Terry’s Online Library as a courtesy, as filed of record with the Orange County Clerk’s Office.

Also included in the Online Library update is Amendment Six (6) to the

Famed Wyoming attorney Gerry Spence founded the Trial Lawyers College several years ago, “… to help attorneys stand up for the rights of ordinary people and develop their skills as trial lawyers.”  The TLCis dedicated to training a new kind of attorney—one who is courageous enough to develop his or her own

1.  Inequality in Results: Unequal Outcomes in Capital Cases

Recently the Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board changed the paper’s official stance on the death penalty in Florida in an editorial entitled “It’s time for Florida to get rid of the death penalty,” and published on November 22, 2019.

Part of their argument includes a

Terence Lenamon presented the defense’s opening statement in the death penalty trial of State of Florida v. Markeith Loyd today, and you can watch Terry’s opening via this YouTube capture of the live courtroom proceedings (Terry begins at the 14:33 mark, immediately after the state’s opening statement):

Today, Terence Lenamon argued his motion that  Florida State Attorney Aramis Ayala be allowed to testify as part of the defense for Markeith Loyd.  Back in 2017, Ms. Ayala declined to seek the death penalty as prosecutor in the Loyd case; as a result, Governor Rick Scott replaced her at the state’s trial table.  (

As reported in the Tallahassee Democrat in its article “Funding for court-appointed counsel dries up; JAC can’t pay bills,” written by Jeffrey Schweers and published on April 11, 2019, Florida’s Justice Administrative Commission has run out of money.

Accordingly, Terence Lenamon has filed a motion to continue the current death penalty trial of

Terence Lenamon’s upcoming capital case docket involves the death penalty defense of Michael James Jackson.   Jackson is currently a resident of Florida’s Death Row.

Continuing Impact of Hurst on Florida Death Penalty

This case is one of the many Florida death penalty cases that have gone under review in the aftermath of Hurst v. Florida.  

How JAC impacts the Florida Death Penalty: Indigent Defense Legal Fees

For over 40 years, Florida’s Justice Administrative Commission (“JAC”) has provided administrative support to the state judicial branch.  Among its managerial tasks is overseeing the payment of court-appointed lawyers who represent defendants unable to afford counsel (indigent defendants).  In 2004, JAC was first given

This month, the trial of Markeith Loyd continues in an Orlando courtroom with Terry Lenamon at the defense table. While prior Florida state attorney Ayala declined to proceed with the death penalty, it is back on the table.

For more on the Markeith Loyd case, see: