On a cold January day in 1988, the life of John Robert Kirk, a 63-year-old white male and a veteran of World War II, was tragically cut short. On January 23rd, while heading home from his job at Plantation Pipe Line Company in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, he pulled his red 1984 Chevrolet pickup truck over near the West Blocton exit on Interstate 59 South.
It was there that he was approached by three men.
The encounter turned fatal when one of the men, Luther Jerome Williams, led Kirk into a wooded area off the interstate. There, Williams shot Kirk in the head with a. 22 caliber pistol. After the killing, Williams and his two accomplices stole Kirk's truck and money. Williams then drove the stolen vehicle to the Smithfield housing project in Birmingham. Several people witnessed him with the truck, and one relative later testified that Williams had confessed to killing a white man and stealing his vehicle, even showing her the murder weapon.
Law enforcement apprehended Williams at an apartment within the housing project. A search of the premises uncovered the. 22 caliber pistol used in the murder hidden inside a black purse. Williams was subsequently indicted for capital murder during the commission of a robbery. Following a trial, he was convicted of the crime and sentenced to death.
The two other men involved in the murder pleaded guilty and received life sentences. Trosky Gregory is currently serving his sentence at Staton Correctional Facility, with the possibility of parole. The second accomplice, Albert Carmichael Jr., was paroled on May 3, 2004. Despite maintaining his innocence to the very end, Luther Jerome Williams was executed by lethal injection on August 23, 2007, at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama. In his final moments, he addressed John Robert Kirk's family, stating that he did not commit the crime.
