Florida man scheduled for execution for killing woman and her 4-year-old daughter
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A Florida man is scheduled to be executed next month after being convicted of killing his cousin’s girlfriend and her 4-year-old daughter, under a death warrant signed Wednesday by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Richard Knight, 47, will die by lethal injection May 21 at the Florida State Penitentiary in Starke, part of a series of death warrants signed by the governor.
Knight was convicted of the murders of Odessia Stephens and her young daughter, Hanessia Mullings, in 2000, according to WFLA. Prosecutors said Knight and Stephens were involved in an argument the night of the crime.
Authorities described the killings in court records as “heinous, disgusting and cruel,” media reported.
FLORIDA DEATH GOVERNMENT USE LAST WORDS TO PROTECT INNOCENCE BEFORE EXECUTION
Richard Knight, 47, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on May 21 at Florida State Prison in Starke. (Florida Department of Corrections)
When Stephens and her daughter went to bed, Knight grabbed knives from the kitchen, entered their bedroom, and attacked the woman whose daughter was lying next to her.
Investigators said Knight stabbed Stephens 21 times, most of the injuries to his neck. He also suffered stab wounds in his chin, back and chest.
Stephens also had injuries that indicated he was choked and tried to fight back, and investigators said footage of the crime showed a “bloody struggle.”
Knight then strangled the boy and stabbed him multiple times, causing stab wounds to his upper chest, neck and hand.
Details were presented by prosecutors during the hearing, according to court records.
Richard Knight was convicted of the murders of Odessia Stephens and her daughter Hanessia Mullings in 2000. (AP)
A judge sentenced Knight to death in 2007 after a jury unanimously recommended the death penalty for first-degree murder.
Efforts by Knight’s lawyers to appeal the case have so far been unsuccessful. Court records show his legal team has filed multiple appeals of the conviction and sentence, but they have so far been rejected.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Knight’s legal team for comment.
DeSantis continues to increase the number of death warrants signed since the beginning of last year.
In 2025, 19 people were executed in Florida, breaking the record for the most executions in a year in the Sunshine State. Before last year, the record for executions in a year since the death penalty was reinstated in Florida in 1976 was eight, set in 1984 and 2014.
FLORIDIAN WHO DRAW HIS GUN ON POLICE AND KILLED HIM WAS EXECUTED WHEN FINAL APPEALS WERE REJECTED
Florida had already executed five people in 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
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Advocacy groups, including the Equal Justice Initiative, have expressed concerns about fairness and due process in death penalty cases.
Florida also executed more people than any other state last year; Alabama, Texas and South Carolina ranked second with five executions each. 47 people will be executed across the USA in 2025.
Five people have been executed in Florida this year, and another is scheduled to be executed on April 30 for 70-year-old James Hitchcock’s rape and murder of his 13-year-old step-niece.
The final execution took place Tuesday, when 58-year-old Chadwick Willacy was put to death for setting fire to his elderly neighbor in Palm Bay.
