Florida Executes Richard Knight for 2002 Double Murder

M. Eastern Time on Thursday after receiving a three-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. Knight had been convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in the June 2002 killings of Odessia Stephens and her four-year-old daughter, Hanessia Mullings.

m. after Knight was strapped to a gurney with an IV line in place. " He closed his eyes and remained still as the drugs were administered. A medic entered the room after about ten minutes and declared him dead.

Knight had been living with his cousin, Stephens, and her daughter in Coral Springs in June 2000. Court records show that Knight and Stephens frequently argued about his living situation. On the night of the killings, Stephens told Knight he would have to move out the next morning while his cousin was at work.

Knight then stabbed Stephens multiple times and attacked the child, according to officials. Knight confessed to another inmate while held at the Broward County Jail, and that inmate testified against him at trial. The Florida Supreme Court denied Knight's final appeals last Friday, rejecting claims of newly discovered evidence and challenges to the state's execution protocols.

This was Florida's seventh execution in 2025.

The state carried out a record 19 executions last year under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. Another execution is scheduled for June 2 for Andrew Richard Lukehart, who was convicted of beating his girlfriend's infant daughter to death in 1996. Earlier Thursday, Tennessee officials called off the planned execution of Tony Carruthers after failing to establish a backup IV line.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said the state would not attempt another execution for at least one year. Carruthers was convicted of murdering three people.