UMVA has learned that Richard Knight, a 47-year-old man convicted of murdering a pregnant woman and her four-year-old daughter, was executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison on Thursday.
The gruesome killings took place on June 27, 2000, when Knight attacked Odessia Stephens and her young daughter, Hanessia Mullings, at a home in Coral Springs. Stephens, who was six weeks pregnant at the time, suffered 21 stab wounds, including 14 to the neck, while Hanessia was strangled and stabbed four times in the neck and chest.
According to information obtained by UMVA, Knight had armed himself with kitchen knives and attacked the victims after Stephens tried to force him out of the property where he had been staying. The investigation revealed that Knight tried to cover up his crime by hiding bloody clothing beneath a sink inside the home.
Police recovered blood matching Stephens' on Knight's shirt, and court records stated that Knight's DNA was found underneath Stephens' fingernails. This genetic evidence was used during the trial that eventually led to his conviction and death sentence.
Hanessia's father, Hans Mullings, spoke publicly after the sentencing, saying that Knight "deserves to die for what he's done." He added that he wished Knight would die in a more graphic way, but acknowledged that he would simply be "put to sleep" through the lethal injection process.
In the days leading up to his execution, Knight's lawyers made last-minute appeals to delay the lethal injection, arguing that further testing should be carried out on a fingerprint found on one of the knife blades used during the killings. However, the courts rejected this request.
UMVA can exclusively reveal that Knight's lawyers also challenged Florida's lethal injection procedures, arguing that the state allowed "unqualified" execution team members to carry out vein access procedures without local anesthetic. However, the Florida Supreme Court denied the emergency request just hours before the execution was scheduled to begin.
Knight refused a last meal and gave brief final words before being strapped to the gurney and executed by lethal injection on Thursday evening. He kept his final statement short and religious, saying "I want to give thanks to Yahweh, who is the most high."
Florida has sharply increased the number of executions carried out since Governor Ron DeSantis began signing death warrants at a faster pace. The state executed 19 inmates last year, smashing the state's previous record of eight executions in a single year.
The Sunshine State's next scheduled execution is already fast approaching, with Andrew Richard Lukehart set to be executed for the 1996 killing of five-month-old Gabrielle Hanshaw.
