Florida carries out record 12th execution this year on man convicted of
killing wife's family
[September 18, 2025]
By CURT ANDERSON
STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man convicted of killing his estranged
wife's sister and parents and setting their house on fire was put to
death Wednesday evening in what was a record 12th execution in the state
this year.
David Pittman, 63, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. EDT following a
lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke under a death
warrant signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“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
was quoted as saying in his last words, according to a statement from
DeSantis spokesperson Alex Lanfranconi.
As the drugs were being administered, Pittman took a few deep breaths
and then was still.
In 1991, Pittman was convicted and sentenced to death on three counts of
first-degree murder, according to court records. Jurors also found him
guilty of arson and grand theft.
Pittman and his wife, Marie, were going through a contentious divorce in
May 1990, when the killings occurred, and investigators say he had
threatened to harm her family several times.
Trial testimony showed Pittman cut a phone line at the Mulberry,
Florida, home of his wife’s parents, Clarence Knowles, 60, and his wife,
50-year-old Barbara Knowles. Pittman stabbed the couple to death as well
as their other daughter, 21-year-old Bonnie Knowles. Pittman then set
their house on fire and stole Bonnie Knowles’ car, which he also set
ablaze. The family was found dead on May 15 of that year.
A witness during his 1991 trial identified Pittman as the person seen
running away from the burning car. A jailhouse informant also testified
that Pittman had admitted to the killings. Jurors recommended the death
penalty on a 9-3 vote.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, whose county was where the killings took
place, observed the execution Wednesday evening. He said it was fitting
to see Pittman's death sentence carried out.
“He was evil then. He never changed,” Judd said afterward. “This evil
man wiped out an entire family.”
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This undated photo provided by Florida Department of Corrections
shows death row inmate David J. Pittman. (Florida Department of
Corrections via AP)
On Tuesday, Pittman's final appeal was rejected by the U.S. Supreme
Court.
His most recent appeals had focused on recent evidence indicating he
suffers from intellectual disabilities, including an IQ in the low
70s, that was apparent at the time of the killings. His lawyers had
argued that his execution would violate the Constitution’s
protection against executing a person with severe mental problems.
Lawyers for the state disagreed, contending it came too late for
Pittman to claim mental impairment from years earlier. The Florida
Supreme Court, reversing a previous decision, had ruled in 2020 that
such claims could not be applied retroactively.
So far 31 people had been executed in the U.S. to date this year,
with Florida leading the nation on a flurry of death warrants signed
by DeSantis, who has signed more warrants than any of his
predecessors.
Two more Florida executions are scheduled for this fall. Victor Tony
Jones is set to die on Sept. 30 for the 1990 killings of two people
during a robbery and Samuel Lee Smithers is scheduled to be executed
on Oct. 14 for the murders of two women in 1996.
Before Pittman, the last person executed in Florida was 59-year-old
Curtis Windom on Aug. 28, for his conviction in the 1992 murders of
his girlfriend, her mother and another man.
Florida conducts all its executions with a three-drug injection — a
sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to
the state Department of Corrections.
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