JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Prosecutors continued presenting witnesses Monday in their first-degree murder case against Lance Kirkpatrick, who is accused of killing the wife of a firefighter in 2012. The defense is expected to argue Kim Dorsey died during a sexually-charged fight and that her slaying was not premeditated.
The state was expected to conclude its case Monday, but was still calling witnesses when court ended for the day. Kirkpatrick is expected to testify once the defense begins presenting its cast.
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Prosecutors said Kirkpatrick knew Dorsey and her husband and broke into the couples' home and raped and murdered Dorsey in November 2012 while her husband was away.
Prosecutors said Kirkpatrick used a pool cue and a knife to kill her.
Prosecution witness Brian Kieffer, 31, testified Monday that Kirkpatrick confessed to him that he had beaten and stabbed Dorsey and that Dorsey had fired five shots at Kirkpatrick during the scuffle.
"He said he stabbed her in the neck and that she said, 'Stop, you're killing me,'" Kieffer said.
The prosecutor asked if Kieffer believed what Kirkpatrick had told him.
"To an extent I believed the seriousness," Kieffer said. "But who's going to tell you they murdered somebody?"
The state also played three phone calls Kirkpatrick made from jail. In the first, he talks about wanting to go on a cruise during, In the second call, he professes his innocence, standing by the story he didn't enter the home, and saying he isn't a violent person.
Defense lawyers have argued Kirkpatrick and Dorsey had a sexual relationship and a fight led to her death. They said Kirkpatrick did not intend to kill Dorsey.
That difference could affect whether Kirkpatrick could face the death penalty.
In testimony Friday, a Duval County jail inmate testified that he was with Kirkpatrick in the days before Dorsey's murder, attending a party where people were drinking and getting high. The inmate, Terry Norris, said he gave Kirkpatrick $200 to go buy drugs and he had returned with about $40 worth of drugs and "appeared to be high."
Three detectives with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office also testified Friday, talking about evidence at the crime scene, including finding Dorsey's cell phone in a sink full of water. While little data could be recovered, there was record of a few calls received the day she was killed -- one from a blocked number.