Luther Williams was executed by the State of Alabama for the murder of John Kirk
According to court documents John Kirk was broken down on the side of the road when he was approached by Luther Williams and two accomplices. John Kirk was brought into the woods where he was fatally shot
Luther Williams would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Luther Williams was executed on August 23 2007 by lethal injection
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When Was Luther Williams Executed
Luther Williams was executed on August 23 2007
Luther Williams Case
Minutes before his execution, Luther Jerome Williams raised his head to look at the family of the man Williams is convicted of killing 19 years ago. “I didn’t do it,” Williams said to Peggy Guy, sister of victim John Robert Kirk. Williams maintained his innocence until his last breath, which at 6:21 p.m. at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.
The 47-year-old was convicted in 1989 of shooting Kirk, of Gordo, not far from Interstate 20/59 near West Blockton Jan. 22, 1988. Prosecutors said Williams was one of three men who saw the 63-year-old World War II veteran stopped on the side of the exit ramp, shot him execution-style not far from the road and robbed him of his wallet and truck. The then-28-year-old Williams was on the run from a prison work release program.
After being read the death sentence by Warden Grantt Culliver, Williams began speaking into the microphone provided for his last words. Strapped to a gurney with his arms outstretched, Williams said that the Tuscaloosa County district attorney and chief of homicide told the two men with him that Saturday of the murder to blame him. “They told the other two guys to put it on me,” said Williams, who grew up in Birmingham. “I think it’s wrong.” The other men accused of Kirk’s murder pleaded guilty and received life sentences. Trosky Gregory, now 43, is serving his sentence at Staton Correctional Facility in Elmore, with the possibility of parole. Albert Carmichael Jr., now 45, was paroled May 3, 2004.
Williams has said in appeals to his conviction that he was passed out drunk in the back seat of the car while the other men shot Kirk.
After blaming prosecutors and law enforcement, he called out his original defense attorney by name as another reason he lay flat with tubes ready to deliver the lethal injection. “You provided no defense,” Williams said passionately. “I didn’t have no defense, and that’s why I’m here.”
Williams went on to say he was never going to give up the other two men. “My name is Luther Jerome Williams. I ain’t no black, little rat,” he said.
The stark white death chamber sits between two rooms with windows. The room to Williams’ left is reserved for his family, friends and media. On his right sat Kirk’s sister, Peggy Guy, and her son, Lewis Kirk Guy. When the curtain to both rooms opened, Williams peered into the windows. None of his family sat behind the glass. Don Blocker, a volunteer minister at Holman, was the lone familiar face.
After the microphone was removed and prison officials began exiting, Williams looked to his left. Blocker raised his hand, palm open, to the window, and Williams winced as if to begin weeping. He quickly gathered himself and turned his head to the Guys. With microphone gone, it was difficult to make out all Williams said in his lengthy diatribe. He looked both in the eyes, and swore to God he didn’t kill Kirk.
Wearing a green dress and black-framed glasses, Peggy Guy chewed gum nearly emotionless most of the execution, but always looking at her man convicted of killing her brother and, occasionally, her wristwatch. When Williams spoke to her, her jaws paused. She didn’t turn away and looked him square in the eye. Her son grabbed her hand. The two declined to comment after the execution, as did Blocker. Kirk’s widow, Norma, died a few years ago, and his daughter in Florida did not come.
After the guards left. all that remained was Chris Summers, prison chaplain. He asked Williams if he’d like to pray, and then knelt beside the bed, holding his hand. He closed his eyes and prayed along with the chaplain. Not long after, he breathed deeply and readjusted his head on the pillow. A few seconds later his hand lost the grip of Summers, who prayed a moment more before stepping back at 6:07 p.m. His head tilted to the left, and his mouth slightly open. Williams lay there until breathing ceased. The curtain’s closed so the medical examiner could declare a time of death.
And so prisoner 00Z513 died after nearly 18 years on death row. His last appeal was denied 2-1 by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday, and Gov. Bob Riley refused to stay his execution.
“Mr. Williams committed a random, cold-blooded crime that took the life of an innocent man almost 20 years ago,” Riley said in a statement Thursday. “I see no reason to overturn the sentence imposed by the jury and judge, and barring a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, I will not intervene in this scheduled execution because there is no justifiable reason to delay it.” Though Williams did not know of Riley’s decision till Thursday, his last week was spent on deathwatch.
His post-conviction attorney, Joel Sogol, and a law student visited Williams Monday. On Tuesday, he was moved to a larger, isolated cell. He spent much of his time writing a couple of letters, watching television and talking with officers, said Brian Corbett, spokesman for the Alabama Department of Corrections. Corbett did not know whom the letters were for. No visitors came Tuesday, but on Wednesday he met his youngest son for the first time.
Koreen Bush, 18, and his foster parents came. Father and son talked for the first time two weeks ago. To his son, Williams left all his possessions: a 13-inch black-and-white television, one box of legal paper and a check for all that remained in his prison account, $38.97. “He was very happy to get the opportunity to visit with his youngest son,” Corbett said. Two cousins also visited Wednesday. Williams also has three sisters, one brother and another son, Dwight Bush, 23. None visited. Thursday, Blocker, a spiritual advisor to Williams, and Summers were the only visitors.
His last day began with a breakfast of grits, eggs, biscuit, prunes, two cartons of milk and sausage and gravy. For lunch, he requested a Coca-Cola and a hamburger from the vending machine. Soft drinks are somewhat of a luxury since the kitchen does not serve them. His last meal was hot dogs, a garden salad with French dressing and orange juice.
“His mood is as good as can be expected considering he’s about to die,” Corbett said Thursday afternoon. He appeared agitated by his IV line before the warden read the death sentence. “Calm down. It’s going to be OK,” Culliver said.
Williams wished to be cremated, and a couple in Rhode Island accepted the body. They will pay for the cremation, and give his remains to Koreen Bush, Corbett said.
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