27 May 2026 :
May 21, 2026 - Florida. Richard Knight, 47, Black, was executed on May 21
Knight was sentenced to death in 2007 for the 2000 murder of Odessia Stephens and her four-year-old daughter Hanessia Mullings
Richard Knight, 47, was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. following a 3-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. Knight was convicted of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder in the June 2002 killings of Odessia Stephens and her daughter, Hanessia Mullings.
The curtain of the death chamber went up promptly at the scheduled 6:00 p.m. execution time. Knight was already strapped down with his arms extended and an IV line in place.
Asked by the warden if he wished to make a last statement, Knight declared, “I want to give thanks to Yahweh, who is the most high.”
The execution began immediately after that. Knight closed his eyes and barely moved as the drugs began entering his system. After about 10 minutes, a medic was called into the room and the inmate was declared dead.
According to court records, Knight had been living in Coral Springs, near Fort Lauderdale, with his cousin, his cousin’s girlfriend and their daughter in 2000. Knight and Stephens frequently argued about Knight living there. One evening while Knight’s cousin was at work, Stephens told Knight he would have to move out the next morning. Knight became angry and stabbed Stephens multiple times and then attacked the young girl, the records show.
On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a final appeal from Knight’s attorneys without comment.
Knight becomes the 7th inmate to be put to death this year in Florida and the 132nd overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1979. Only Texas has carried out more (600) in the USA since the nation resumed in 1977.
Knight becomes the 14th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1,668th overall since the US Supreme Court allowed executions to resume via its Gregg v Georgia decision on July 2, 1976, ending a 4-year moratorium.
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