Double murderer who slaughtered little girl and her mother executed by lethal injection

The state of Florida has carried out its seventh execution of the year after a man convicted of murdering a pregnant woman and her young daughter back in 2000 was put to death by lethal injection.

47 year-old Richard Knight was pronounced dead at 6.13pm local time on Thursday at Florida State Prison. He had been sentenced to death over the killings of Odessia Stephens and four year-old Hanessia Mullings at a home in Coral Springs more than two and a half decades ago.

The case dates back to June 27, 2000, when Stephens reportedly tried to force Knight out of the property where he had been staying. Court records stated that she was dating Knight’s cousin at the time, although he wasn’t home during the attack.

Investigators looking into the case said that Knight had armed himself with kitchen knives before attacking both victims inside the house. Stephens was repeatedly stabbed while Hanessia was strangled and stabbed during the violence.

Autopsy findings later revealed the devastating extent of the injuries. Stephens suffered 21 stab wounds, including 14 to the neck, while Hanessia sustained four stab wounds to her neck and chest.

To add to the shock and misery, it turned out that Stephens was also six weeks pregnant at the time of her gruesome murder. Local reports said that she had extensive defensive wounds, suggesting that she’d bravely fought back during at least some of the attack.

Police later recovered blood matching Stephens’ on Knight’s shirt. Officers also discovered bloody clothing hidden beneath a sink inside the home, demonstrating that Knight tried to cover up his crime.

Court records stated that Knight’s DNA was found underneath Stephens’ fingernails. Prosecutors used this genetic evidence during the trial that eventually led to his conviction and death sentence.

Hanessia’s father, Hans Mullings, spoke publicly after the sentencing. He said that Knight ‘deserves to die for what he’s done’.

‘I just wish he died in a graphic way,’ Mullings added. ‘They suffered a lot and he won’t. He’s just going to be put to sleep and he’s gone.’

In the days leading up to his execution, attempts were made to stop the lethal injection from going ahead. One argument centerd on a fingerprint found on one of the knife blades used during the killings.

His lawyers said further testing should be carried out before Florida proceeded. The courts rejected that request.

Another legal challenge put forward focused on Florida’s controversial lethal injection procedures. Attorneys working for Knight attempted to argue that the state allowed ‘unqualified’ execution team members to carry out vein access procedures without local anaesthetic.

Strangely enough, that very same subject had actually hit headlines earlier that same day after a dramatic incident in Tennessee. There, officials halted the planned execution of inmate Tony Carruthers after staff struggled to establish an intravenous line.

An attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union who witnessed the scene later questioned the qualifications of the medical personnel involved. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee ultimately granted Carruthers a one-year reprieve.

Knight’s lawyers quickly pointed to the incident in an emergency filing with the Florida Supreme Court. They argued that Carruthers ‘was in agony and bleeding’ during the failed execution attempt.

‘Before another botched execution is allowed to take place, this time in Florida, Mr. Knight submits that a stay of execution is warranted,’ the filing stated.

Judges weren’t persuaded, though. The Florida Supreme Court ended up denying the emergency request just hours before the execution was scheduled to begin.

When the time came, Knight declined a final meal. Some inmates choose comfort food or opt to indulge in enough calories to feed a small village. Knight, apparently, was in no mood to eat.

He kept his final statement short and religious. ‘I want to give thanks to Yahweh, who is the most high,’ he said shortly before the lethal injection process began.

Knight became the 14th person executed in the United States this year. More than half of those executions have taken place in Florida alone.

The state has sharply increased the number of executions carried out since Governor Ron DeSantis began signing death warrants at a faster pace. He has previously said the move is intended to provide closure to victims’ families after years of appeals and delays.

Florida executed 19 inmates last year, smashing the state’s previous record of eight executions in a single year. That record had stood since 1984 and was matched again in 2014.

No other state came close to Florida’s total last year. Alabama, Texas and South Carolina each carried out five executions over the same period.

The Sunshine State’s next scheduled execution is already fast approaching. The state plans to end the life of Andrew Richard Lukehart over the 1996 killing of five month-old Gabrielle Hanshaw, whose body was later found in a pond near the city of Jacksonville.