Florida is preparing to carry out its 12th execution of the year, with 63-year-old David Pittman scheduled to die by lethal injection on Wednesday evening at the Florida State Prison, U.S.
Pittman was sentenced to death in 1991 for the killing of his estranged wife’s sister, Bonnie Knowles, 21, and her parents, Clarence, 60, and Barbara Knowles, 50. Prosecutors said the victims were fatally stabbed in their home in 1990 before the house was deliberately set on fire in an attempt to destroy evidence.
The condemned man’s attorneys argued he should be spared, citing intellectual disability and claiming he has an IQ of just 70. Despite filing appeals for a stay of execution, courts have rejected the petitions, allowing the sentence to proceed.
If carried out as scheduled at 6:00 pm local time (2200 GMT), Pittman’s death will mark the 31st execution in the United States this year. According to data, it is the highest number of executions nationwide since 2014, when 35 inmates were put to death.
Florida has led the country in capital punishment during 2025 with 11 executions so far, followed by South Carolina and Texas with four each. In total, 25 inmates have been executed by lethal injection, while two faced firing squads and three were put to death using nitrogen hypoxia, a new method that induces suffocation through nitrogen gas. Human rights experts at the United Nations have condemned the nitrogen process as “cruel and inhumane.”
The US remains divided on capital punishment. While 23 states have abolished the death penalty, three others, California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania, currently have moratoriums halting executions.
President Donald Trump has consistently supported the practice. On his first day in office, he urged for its expansion “for the vilest crimes,” a position he continues to reinforce.
