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one Floridian The sister and parents who were convicted of killing his estranged wife, then burning their houses and being killed, extending the already record number of executions, which were conducted in Sunshine State this year to 12 years old.
David Pittman, 63, died Wednesday at 6:12 p.m. in a Florida prison near Stark. Pittman took a few deep breaths before stopping all exercises while taking these medications, according to the Associated Press.
“I know you all come to see an innocent man being murdered by Florida. I’m innocent. I didn’t kill anyone. That’s it,” Pittman said in his last words. Ron DeSantishe signed Pittman’s death order.
Pittman was convicted in 1991 and sentenced to death for third-degree murder, as well as arson and grand theft. Jurors voted 9-3 to recommend the death penalty.
Florida plans to execute for killing a man who estranges his wife’s family
David Pittman, 63, died Wednesday at 6:12 p.m. in a Florida prison near Stark. (Florida Department of Corrections)
According to officials, Pittman and his wife Marie went to the home of their parents Clarence and Barbara Knowles in May 1990, experienced a divorce and fatally stabbed them and their 21-year-old daughter Bonnie.
He then lit Polk County homes on the fire and stole Bonnie Knowles’ car The vehicle caught fire, Investigators said.
Investigators say Pittman has threatened to hurt the family multiple times.
A witness identified Pittman as the man fled the burning car, and a prison informant testified that Pittman admitted to the stabbing death of his wife’s family.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd observed the execution and later said it was appropriate to see Pittman being executed.
“He was evil then. He never changed,” Judd said. “This evil man wiped out the entire family.”
Pittman’s final appeal was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday.
David Pittman was convicted in 1991 and sentenced to death for three counts of first-degree murder and arson and grand theft. (AP)
His recent appeal focused on recent evidence that he suffered a significant intellectual disability in the murder case. His lawyers said his execution would violate the constitutional protection to prevent people with serious mental problems from enforcing them.
But lawyers in the state believe it was too late to claim mental disorder a few years ago. The Florida Supreme Court revoked its early ruling and ruled in 2020 that these claims cannot be made retroactively.
“Our people in Florida killed David Pittman of intellectually disabled people,” the Floridian said in a statement Wednesday. “We killed a man who was broken and beaten as a child. The mother of a child was described as not one that the mother wanted. She beat him ruthlessly, told him and his siblings that they were welcome to call child protection services, and she might be staying for a day or two, ‘When they let me go, you put down the hospital. Violence, neglect and hardship shape David’s childhood, which had called him the defendant in the state.”
“David has a well-documented history of intellectual disability. Neither the state of Florida nor the courts have really raised a question about this truth. The reason they allegedly allow the execution to continue? Because the evidence about their intellectual disability has not been presented within appropriate or procedurally appropriate time.”
Pittman’s execution expanded this year’s Florida record, which comes after many death warrants signed by Desantis. The state’s 13th decision this year is on Sept. 30, when Victor Tony Jones, 64, plans to be executed for fatal stabbing a married couple during the robbery, Samuel Lee Smithers, 72, is scheduled to murder two women on Oct. 14 on Oct. 14.
David Pittman’s death extends the number of records executed by Sunshine State this year to 12. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, file)
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Sunshine State has more people than any other state this year, with Texas and South Carolina ranked second. In the entire United States, 31 people have been executed so far in 2025.
“Zero has evidence that this unprecedented speed of execution keeps Florida’s people at any safer speed,” the Floridian said in its statement. “Instead, we are breaking up families and killing the broken and traumatized people who should be legally exempt from executions. There is no doubt that history will reveal that this killing frenzy is indeed the darkest time in the state of sunshine.”
Before this year, Florida’s previous executions record was eight in 2014 since the death penalty was resumed in 1976.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
