A Florida man convicted in the 2002 stabbing deaths of a woman and her 4-year-old daughter was executed Thursday evening at Florida State Prison near Starke, state and court reporting said. Richard Knight, 47, was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. after officials carried out a three-drug injection.
The execution began at the scheduled 6 p.m. time with Knight restrained in the death chamber, according to reporting describing the final moments. When the warden asked whether he had a final statement, Knight responded, “I want to give thanks to Yahweh, who is the most high.” After that, the injection process started immediately.
The drugs were administered through an IV line, and Knight closed his eyes and “barely moved,” according to the account of the procedure. After about 10 minutes, a medic was called in and Knight was declared dead, officials said.
In court records described in the reporting, Knight had been living in Coral Springs, near Fort Lauderdale, with his cousin, the cousin’s girlfriend and their daughter in 2000. The records said Knight and Stephens frequently argued about him living there, and that one evening while the cousin was at work, Stephens told Knight he would have to move out the next morning.
The records further said Knight became angry and stabbed Stephens multiple times and then attacked the young girl. Knight was convicted of first-degree murder for the killings of Odessia Stephens and Hanessia Mullings.
After Thursday’s execution, Hans Mullings, identified in reporting as Stephens’ boyfriend and the father of the 4-year-old, told reporters that his family still grieves. “The pain never leaves,” Mullings said. “We love them still, and we can’t stop loving them. We miss them a lot.”
Reporting said Stephens’ sisters and mother did not attend the execution but submitted a statement expressing closure. It said, “Words cannot express the profound sense of peace and finality we feel today,” adding that while it did not fill “the empty space in our hearts,” closing “this long, painful chapter allows us to fully focus on honoring the beautiful lives of Odessia and Hanessia.” The statement also said, “Richard, may our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ grant you the mercy you failed to give our loved ones whom you so brutally took from us that night,” according to the account.
The execution followed the U.S. Supreme Court’s rejection of Knight’s final appeal without comment, AP reported. The timing also came after Tennessee officials called off a planned execution of inmate Tony Carruthers, citing that they could not find a suitable vein for a backup line under the state’s protocol.
In Arizona, reporting said Leroy Dean McGill, 63, was executed Wednesday by lethal injection at the Arizona State Prison Complex in Florence. Florida, meanwhile, was preparing for another execution on June 2, involving Andrew Richard Lukehart, 53, who was convicted in the 1996 killing of his girlfriend’s infant daughter.
All Florida executions described in the reporting are carried out by lethal injection of a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, officials said. The Thursday execution was the seventh carried out by Florida this year, following a 2025 pace that included a record 19 executions, AP reported.