The Commission on Capital Cases updates this information regularly. This information; however, is subject to change and may not reflect the latest status of an inmate’s case and should not be relied upon for statistical or legal purposes.
Williams, Kirk D. (W/M)
DOB: 08/08/78
1st Judicial Circuit, Walton County Case # 06-CF-000788
Sentencing Judge: The Honorable Kevin C. Wells
Attorney, Trial: Michael A. Flowers – Private
Attorney, Direct Appeal: Nada M. Carey – Public Defender’s Office
Attorney, Collateral Appeals: N/A
Date of Offense: 10/03/06
Date of Sentence: 05/13/08
Circumstances of Offense:
Kirk Douglas Williams was convicted and sentenced to death on 5/13/08 for the murder of Susan Littrell Dykes. The murder of Dykes occurred between the late afternoon hours of Tuesday, October 3, 2006, and the early morning hours of Wednesday, October 4, 2006.
Williams had been living with Dykes before her murder. Dykes was employed as a security officer. Williams was unemployed and had a long history of substance abuse. He had been on a crack cocaine binge during the period leading up to the crime and following the crime. In the early morning hours of Tuesday, October 3, 2006, he used Dykes’ ATM card to make 4 separate withdrawals: $100 at 12:12 a.m., $100 at 1:49 a.m., $100 at 4:49 a.m., and $200 at 6:06 a.m. These withdrawals left Dykes’ account $294.65 overdrawn. Evidence presented showed that Williams was driving Dykes’ vehicle when he made the withdrawals. He had no working vehicle of his own and had used Dykes’ vehicle on several occasions over the past months.
Willams spent a large part of the day and evening of October 3 with Callie Williams, using her car to drive around. Although they no longer lived together, Williams and Callie were married and had a child together. They smoked crack cocaine off and on throughout the time period they were together.
In the late afternoon of October 3, Dykes visited her landlord to repay him for a water bill that he had paid. That was the last time Dykes was seen alive by any of the witnesses testifying at the trial. She did not show up for work the next day. On Saturday, October 7, 2006, Dykes’ body was discovered floating in a nearby lake in a badly decomposed state. Her body was found tied to three cinderblocks—one attached to her chest, one attached to her waist, and one attached to her feet. A piece of the rope was also tied through her mouth and around the back of her head with no cinderblock attached to it.
Investigators found blood in the master bedroom of Dykes’ trailer. In the closet in the master bedroom, they also found a small aluminum tee ball bat, which had blood on it that was later identified as belonging to Dykes. Extensive evidence at trial showed Williams’ post-murder attempts to cover up the crime by cleaning up the crime scene and disposing of the body in the lake. A pair of Dykes’ jeans with her blood on them was found in the clothes hamper in the master bedroom. Williams also attempted to use carpet cleaner to clean up blood in the master bedroom. Two of Dykes’ neighbors saw Williams driving Dykes’ car with a flat-bottom aluminum boat tied to the top. The boat and more of the same brand of rope that was found on the body and cinderblocks were found at Dykes’ trailer. Williams also called Callie Williams from the jail on October 8 and asked her to go to Dykes’ trailer, look underneath an aluminum boat leaned against the back of the trailer, retrieve a blanket and some ropes from underneath the boat, and put the items in his car.
Three inmates testified that Williams told them he had killed Dykes with a baseball bat: William Hawley, Billie Franklin Shirah, II, and Joseph Dewayne Cordell. The inmates were consistent in describing a confrontation and a beating death with a bat. Their testimony was inconsistent about the motive for murder and whether Williams killed Dykes to avoid going to prison, as Hawley stated, over crack cocaine, as Shirah testified, or over whether they were going to smoke crack cocaine together, as Cordell testified.
The medical examiner, Dr. Cameron Francis Snider, testified to five injuries consistent with the head being struck by the aluminum tee ball bat. The medical examiner was unable to testify without speculating as to whether Dykes remained conscious after the first blow with the bat and further stated that any of the blows could have caused unconsciousness and death.
Prior Incarceration History in the State of Florida:
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Prior Prison History: (Note: Data reflected covers periods of incarceration with the Florida Dept. of Corrections since January of 1983) |
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Offense Date |
Offense |
Sentence Date |
County |
Case No. |
Prison Sentence Length |
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09/27/1997 |
GRAND THEFT MOTOR VEHICLE |
10/05/1999 |
WALTON |
9700630 |
1Y 7M 6D |
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11/16/1997 |
INTROD.DRUG,WEAPON IN CO.FACIL |
10/05/1999 |
WALTON |
9800030 |
1Y 7M 6D |
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12/29/2003 |
FELON W/GUN/CONC.WPN/AMMO. |
05/04/2004 |
WALTON |
0301151 |
1Y 1M 12D |
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Trial Summary:
12/21/06 Indicted as follows:
Count I: First-Degree Murder – Susan Littrell Dykes
02/14/08 Jury returned a guilty verdict
02/15/08 Jury recommended death by a vote of 11-1
05/13/08 Sentenced as follows:
Count I: First Degree Murder – Death
Appeal Summary:
Florida Supreme Court – Direct Appeal
FSC# 08-895
05/23/08 Direct Appeal filed
05/20/10 Death sentence vacated and case remanded for imposition of a life sentence without possibility of parole
Case Information:
On 05/23/08, Williams filed a direct appeal in the Florida Supreme Court. He raised the following claims: (1) the trial court erred in instructing the jury on and in finding CHP; (2) the trial court erred in instructing the jury on and in finding the avoid-arrest aggravator; (3) the trial court erred instructing the jury on and in finding that the murder was HAC; (4) the trial court erred in instructing the jury on and in finding the pecuniary gain aggravator (5) the trial court erred in failing to find the mitigating factor that Williams’ addiction to crack cocaine substantially impaired his ability to conform his behavior to the requirements of the law at the time of the homicide; (6) the death sentence is inappropriate since no valid aggravating circumstances exist; and (7) the trial court erred in sentencing Williams to death because Florida’s capital sentencing proceedings are unconstitutional under the Sixth Amendment pursuant to Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584 (2002). On 05/20/10 the Florida Supreme Court vacated Williams’ death sentence and remanded the case for the imposition of a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
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Report Date: 05/25/10 MJH
Approved: 05/25/10 RM
Updated: 05/25/10 MJH