The Commission on Capital Cases updates thisinformation regularly.  This information; however, is subject to change and maynot reflect the latest status of an inmate’s case and should not be relied uponfor statistical or legal purposes. 

Williams, Kirk D. (W/M)

DC# D87934

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’sOffice

Attorney, Collateral Appeals: N/A

Date of Offense: 10/03/06

Date of Sentence: 05/13/08

Circumstances of Offense:

Kirk Douglas Williams wasconvicted and sentenced to death on 5/13/08 for the murder of Susan LittrellDykes.  The murder of Dykes occurred between the late afternoon hours ofTuesday, October 3, 2006, and the early morning hours of Wednesday, October 4,2006.

Williams had been livingwith Dykes before her murder.  Dykes was employed as a security officer. Williams was unemployed and had a long history of substance abuse.  He had beenon a crack cocaine binge during the period leading up to the crime andfollowing 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 withdrawalsleft Dykes’ account $294.65 overdrawn.  Evidence presented showed that Williamswas driving Dykes’ vehicle when he made the withdrawals.  He had no workingvehicle of his own and had used Dykes’ vehicle on several occasions over thepast months.

Willams spent a largepart of the day and evening of October 3 with Callie Williams, using her car todrive around.  Although they no longer lived together, Williams and Callie weremarried and had a child together.  They smoked crack cocaine off and onthroughout the time period they were together.

In the late afternoon ofOctober 3, Dykes visited her landlord to repay him for a water bill that he hadpaid.  That was the last time Dykes was seen alive by any of the witnessestestifying at the trial.  She did not show up for work the next day.  OnSaturday, October 7, 2006, Dykes’ body was discovered floating in a nearby lakein a badly decomposed state.  Her body was found tied to three cinderblocks—oneattached to her chest, one attached to her waist, and one attached to herfeet.  A piece of the rope was also tied through her mouth and around the backof her head with no cinderblock attached to it.

Investigators found bloodin 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 waslater identified as belonging to Dykes.  Extensive evidence at trial showedWilliams’ post-murder attempts to cover up the crime by cleaning up the crimescene and disposing of the body in the lake.  A pair of Dykes’ jeans with herblood on them was found in the clothes hamper in the master bedroom.  Williamsalso 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-bottomaluminum boat tied to the top.  The boat and more of the same brand of ropethat 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 herto go to Dykes’ trailer, look underneath an aluminum boat leaned against theback of the trailer, retrieve a blanket and some ropes from underneath theboat, and put the items in his car.

Three inmates testifiedthat Williams told them he had killed Dykes with a baseball bat: WilliamHawley, Billie Franklin Shirah, II, and Joseph Dewayne Cordell.  The inmateswere consistent in describing a confrontation and a beating death with a bat. Their testimony was inconsistent about the motive for murder and whetherWilliams killed Dykes to avoid going to prison, as Hawley stated, over crackcocaine, as Shirah testified, or over whether they were going to smoke crackcocaine together, as Cordell testified.

The medical examiner, Dr.Cameron Francis Snider, testified to five injuries consistent with the headbeing struck by the aluminum tee ball bat.  The medical examiner was unable totestify without speculating as to whether Dykes remained conscious after thefirst blow with the bat and further stated that any of the blows could havecaused unconsciousness and death.

Prior Incarceration History in the State of Florida:

Trial Summary:

12/21/06          Indictedas follows:

                                    CountI:           First-Degree Murder – Susan Littrell Dykes

02/14/08          Juryreturned a guilty verdict

02/15/08          Juryrecommended death by a vote of 11-1

05/13/08          Sentencedas follows:

                                    CountI:           First Degree Murder – Death

Appeal Summary:

Florida Supreme Court – Direct Appeal

FSC# 08-895

05/23/08          DirectAppeal filed

05/20/10          Deathsentence vacated and case remanded for imposition of a life sentence withoutpossibility of parole

Case Information:

On 05/23/08, Williamsfiled a direct appeal in the Florida Supreme Court.  He raised the followingclaims: (1) the trial court erred in instructing the jury on and in findingCHP; (2) the trial court erred in instructing the jury on and in finding theavoid-arrest aggravator; (3) the trial court erred instructing the jury on and infinding that the murder was HAC; (4) the trial court erred in instructing thejury on and in finding the pecuniary gain aggravator (5) the trial court erredin failing to find the mitigating factor that Williams’ addiction to crackcocaine substantially impaired his ability to conform his behavior to therequirements of the law at the time of the homicide; (6) the death sentence isinappropriate since no valid aggravating circumstances exist; and (7) the trialcourt erred in sentencing Williams to death because Florida’s capitalsentencing proceedings are unconstitutional under the Sixth Amendment pursuantto Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584 (2002).  On 05/20/10 the FloridaSupreme Court vacated Williams’ death sentence and remanded the case for theimposition of a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility ofparole.

________________________________________________________________________

Report Date:   05/25/10          MJH

Approved:       05/25/10          RM

Updated:         05/25/10          MJH