Dep Kirkland

Deppish Kirkland III (November 9, 1949 – September 4, 2022) was an American law enforcement officer and lawyer. In 1981, when he was chief assistant district attorney of Chatham County, Georgia, he took Jim Williams into custody for the alleged murder of Danny Hansford. The killing was the central story of John Berendt's 1994 book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

He was also an actor, writer and director.

Early life Kirkland was born in 1949 in Savannah, Georgia, to Deppish Kirkland Jr. and Mertice Keiffer. He grew up on Wilmington Island, Georgia, and attended Savannah High School. He studied law at the University of Georgia, graduating in 1975.

Career Kirkland went into law practice in Savannah and Atlanta in the late 1970s. He gained admittance to practice in the law courts of state and federal institutions, including the Supreme Court of the United States.

He relocated to New York City, where he worked as an actor, writer and director. having drowned in a boating accident near Bear Creek on Lake Jackson, Georgia. The driver of the boat was arrested for operating while under the influence. Kirkland was working on a film adaptation of MsTRIAL, a play he had written which had been produced in Los Angeles and New York City. He was interred in Savannah's Bonaventure Cemetery.