Kyle Williams guilty of murdering police officer Arnulfo Crispin, responds with a smirk
A Polk County jury found Kyle Williams guilty Thursday of first-degree murder in the 2011 shooting of Lakeland police officer Arnulfo Crispin. The jury deliberated for over a day before reaching a decision.
Williams, 21, shot and murdered Crispin, but the story offered by defense and prosecutor was polarizing on the surface.“It’s not a situation where he’s in a gun battle with an officer. He simply ambushes him and executes him right in front of these guys. He points that gun at the most exposed and most vulnerable part of officer Crispin’s body. And he pulls the trigger…without hesitation,” said prosecutor Paul Wallace.
“The suspect’s turned witnesses. All of them gang members, got together, operated in collusion to develop a plan to blame Kyle Williams for this. The four all met together in a minute or two after the shooting at the house of Mr. Jackson. They talk about the shooting. They concoct a story to blame Mr. Williams and avoid being charged,” said defense attorney Chris Boldt.
Bay News 9 notes that Williams shed tears upon hearing the verdict, but Arnulfo’s family tells a different story.
“I was expecting to see some type of remorse,” Arnulfo Crispin’s brother Frankie said. “But actually what I got was a smirk on his face and a smile as if he was taunting, like, ‘I’m gonna get away with this.’ It was shocking to me because there was no remorse.”
The family wants Williams to receive the death penalty.
“Justice has been done,” said Frankie added. “Now the next phase is to give him the death penalty or life in prison.”
Sentencing will begin hearings on Monday.
“If the death penalty is given then that will be some closure for us,” he said. “Obviously things will never be the same. My brother won’t be back with us, but that’s what all of us as a family are hoping for.”
Jurors started deliberating just before noon Wednesday and were sequestered in a hotel Wednesday night.
RIP officer Crispin. Thank you for your service.