Filing # 87940746 E-Filed 04/13/2019 06:12:56 PM

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE NINTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR ORANGE
COUNTY, FLORIDA

CASE NUMBERS: 2016 CF 15738 A

2017 CF 826

STATE OF FLORIDA,
Plaintiff,
vs.

MARKEITH LOYD,
Defendant.
_____________________/

MOTION TO TOLL PROCEEDINGS FOR APPROXIMATELY SIXTY DAYS UNTIL

SUCH A TIME AS THE JUSTICE ADMINISTRATIVE COMMISSION (JAC) HAS
FUNDING TO PAY ALL DUE PROCESS PROVIDERS, AND TO EXTEND THE TRIAL
DATE TO DECEMBER 2, 2019

Comes now, the Defendant MARKEITH LOYD, by and through undersigned counsel,

and moves to toll the instant proceedings approximately sixty days and to reset the trial date to

December 2, 2019, and as grounds in support states the following:

1. The Defendant is charged with three counts of Capital Murder in the above-stated cases.

Defendant faces the death penalty if convicted.

2. Trial is currently scheduled to begin on September 30, 2019.

3. Late last year, Defendant filed a motion to stay proceedings due to the then-expected JAC

funding shortfall for the payment of due process providers for indigent defendants, such as

Defendant. At the time of filing the motion, the risk of a shortfall was merely anticipated. Now,

the shortfall has become a stark reality.

4. The JAC recently reported that funding for due process providers handling indigent cases

throughout Florida has run out due to a $17.5 million shortfall. Schweers, Jeffrey. “Funding for

court-appointed counsel dries up; JAC can't pay bills.” Tallahassee Democrat, April 11, 2019.

Available online at https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2019/04/11/jac-has-run-out-money-

1
court-appointed-lawyers-and-other-personnel/3437428002/.

5. As a result of the budget shortfall, approximately 8,000 – 12,000 bills for indigent

defense services will not be paid over the next two months, and payments will only commence

again once the next state budget is signed into law.

6. JAC Executive Director Rip Colvin previously explained that supplemental funding is

put into the back of the budget bill, which ordinarily allows the JAC to pay due process providers

without interruption. But due to the late timing of this year’s legislative session, the extra

funding was not made available.

7. In recent months, Colvin has exerted great effort in the face of extraordinary challenges

in seeking to remedy the multi-million dollar budget shortfall caused by legislative

shortsightedness and obstinance.

8. Nonetheless, despite the laudable efforts of Colvin and JAC chairman and State Attorney

Brad King, nothing is left to be done to provide timely payment to due process providers.

"We’ve done all that we can do," said King. "We had expressed to [the Legislature] that there

needed to be more money allocated to indigent criminal defense," King said. "Instead of

allocating more money they cut the allocation that year." The state legislature decided to cut

millions of dollars from the JAC’s budget.

9. In other words, due to detrimental decisions of the Florida Legislature, the state faces a

substantial shortfall in funding for court-appointed cases such as Defendant’s. The budget deficit

won’t be remedied for months. "We are talking about June when money becomes available,"

King said.

10. As Defendant previously explained in his prior motion to stay1, counsel’s ability to

1 Defendant adopts by reference the reasoning in prior motion to stay.

2
provide effective assistance to Defendant is dependent upon the assistance of due process

providers, including experts and investigators. But without the State of Florida being able to

timely provide reasonable assurances of timely compensation to court reporters, investigators,

forensic and mental health experts, and mitigation specialists, there’s no way to ensure that these

persons will continue to effectively provide their necessary services to defense counsel. It is

unreasonable to expect the providers to continue to work in an effective manner without being

paid for months. The delay in payment imposes a substantial and unnecessary burden on the due

process providers. The end result is that Defendant will be denied effective assistance of counsel

for a significant period of time until payments resume.

WHEREFORE, Defendant requests for this Court to grant this motion and toll the

proceedings here until June 16, 2019, when the funds will become available for payment to due

process providers, and to reschedule the trial date for approximately 60 days, in accordance with

the tolling period, to December 2, 2019, and to base all pre-trial deadlines consistent with this

tolling period.

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I HEREBY CERTIFY that a true and correct copy of the foregoing motion was served via

Efiling notification on the Office of the State Attorney this 13th day of April 2019.

3
Respectfully Submitted,

s/Terence M. Lenamon
Terence M. Lenamon, Esq.
Lenamon Law, PLLC
Florida Bar No. 970476
245 S.E. 1st St.
Suite 404
Miami, FL 33131
p. 305-373-9911
f. 305-503-6973