LAKELAND, Fla. (WFLA) – A Florida man convicted of killing three people was executed on Wednesday.
Following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison, David Pittman, 63, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. EDT.
According to the Associated Press, Pittman’s last words were, “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.”
Polk Sheriff Grady Judd remembers several brutal murders that impacted Mulberry in 1990. Decades later, he went to the Florida State prison in Bradford County to witness the execution of Pittman.
A jury convicted and sentenced Pittman to death in 1991 for killing his wife’s parents, Clarence and Barbara Knowles. He also killed his wife’s sister, Bonnie, and set their house on fire.
Prosecutors said the three were killed during the time the couple was going through a divorce and Pittman threatened to harm her loved ones.
John Stewart is a volunteer with Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. He had hoped that Gov. Ron DeSantis would avoid signing a death warrant over claims Pittman has intellectual disabilities.
“He has intellectual disabilities. Executing him is illegal. The governor wants to proceed anyway. This is a man who has a hard time reading the word ‘dog’,” Stewart said.
The Eighth Amendment protects people who have severe mental illnesses from being executed. Recent appeals from Pittman’s lawyer claim he also has a low IQ, which the Florida Supreme Court said such claims cannot be applied retroactively. Last week, the United States Supreme Court also denied stopping the execution.
During a visit to Tampa on Wednesday, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier explained why the state is moving forward.
“We recommend these cases where there is no legal impediment, where a court of competent jurisdiction has ultimately determined the death penalty is the appropriate sentence. We in law enforcement, we enforce the rule of law,” Uthmeier said.
Florida is set to execute two more people this year, including Plant City’s Samuel Smithers, the so-called “Deacon of Death” for killing two women in 1996.
Currently, in the state, The Death Penalty Information Center said there are about 270 people on death row.
Relatives of victims could not be reached, and Pittman’s attorney has not responded to our request for comment.
For more information about FADP’s stance on Pittman, click here.