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A Florida man convicted of killing his estranged wife’s sister and parents before setting their house on fire was put to death, extending the record number of executions carried out in the Sunshine State this year to 12.
David Pittman, 63, died by lethal injection on Wednesday at 6:12 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. While the drugs were being administered, Pittman took a few deep breaths before ceasing all movement, according to The Associated Press.
“I know you all came to watch an innocent man be murdered by the state of Florida. I am innocent. I didn’t kill anybody. That’s it,” Pittman said in his last words, according to a spokesperson for GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed Pittman’s death warrant.
Pittman was convicted in 1991 and sentenced to death on three counts of first-degree murder, as well as arson and grand theft, after the killings carried out the year before. Jurors recommended the death penalty with a 9-3 vote.
FLORIDA SCHEDULES EXECUTION FOR MAN WHO KILLED ESTRANGED WIFE’S FAMILY, SET HOUSE ON FIRE
Pittman and his wife, Marie, were going through a divorce when he went to the home of her parents, Clarence and Barbara Knowles, in May 1990 and fatally stabbed them and their 21-year-old daughter, Bonnie, according to officials.
He then lit the Polk County home on fire and stole Bonnie Knowles’ car before also setting the vehicle on fire, investigators said.
Investigators said Pittman had threatened to harm the family several times.
A witness identified Pittman as the man running away from the burning car, and a jailhouse informant testified that Pittman had admitted to the stabbing deaths of his wife’s family.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd observed the execution, saying afterward that it was fitting to see Pittman put to death.
“He was evil then. He never changed,” Judd said. “This evil man wiped out an entire family.”
Pittman’s final appeal was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday.
FLORIDA EXTENDS EXECUTION RECORD AFTER MAN CONVICTED OF TRIPLE MURDER DIES BY LETHAL INJECTION
His most recent appeals centered on recent evidence showing he suffers from intellectual disabilities that were apparent at the time of the murders. His lawyers said his execution would violate the Constitution’s protection against executing a person with severe mental problems.
But lawyers for the state argued that it was too late for Pittman to claim mental impairment from years earlier. The Florida Supreme Court, reversing an earlier decision, ruled in 2020 that these claims could not be applied retroactively.
“We the People of the State of Florida killed David Pittman, an intellectually disabled man,” Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty said in a statement Wednesday. “We killed a man who was broken and beaten as a child. A child his own mother described as one that no mother would want.
“She mercilessly beat him and told him and his siblings they were welcome to call child protective services and that, while she might go to jail for a day or two, ‘when they let me out, you’re going to the hospital.’ Violence, neglect, and hardship shaped David’s childhood long before the State ever called him a defendant.
“David had a well-documented and life-long history of intellectual disability. Neither the State of Florida nor the Courts have ever truly disputed this truth. Their purported reason for allowing this execution to proceed? Because the evidence regarding his intellectual disability wasn’t raised during the proper or procedurally appropriate time.”
Pittman’s execution extends Florida’s execution record this year following numerous death warrants signed by DeSantis. The state’s 13th execution this year is set for Sept. 30, when Victor Tony Jones, 64, is scheduled to be put to death for fatally stabbing a married couple during a robbery. Samuel Lee Smithers, 72, is set to be executed Oct. 14 for the murders of two women in what would be the state’s 14th execution of the year.
The Sunshine State has executed more people this year than any other state, with Texas and South Carolina tied for the second-most with four each. Across the U.S., 31 people have been executed so far in 2025.
“There is zero evidence to show that this unprecedented pace of executions is keeping the people of the State of Florida any safer,” Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty said in its statement. “Instead, we are tearing apart families and killing broken and traumatized people who should be legally exempt from execution. There is no doubt that history will reveal that this killing spree is indeed the darkest time in the Sunshine State.”
Before this year, Florida’s previous record for executions in a year since the death penalty was restored in 1976 was eight in 2014.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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