Florida’s highest court affirms circuit court’s decision, rejecting David Joseph Pittman’s intellectual disability claim and denying a motion for a stay of execution.
The Florida Supreme Court has cleared the way for the execution of death row inmate David Joseph Pittman, affirming a lower court’s denial of his fourth successive motion for postconviction relief. The decision, issued today, upholds Pittman’s execution, which is scheduled for September 17, 2025.
In its opinion on Wednesday, the court rejected Pittman’s core argument that he is intellectually disabled and therefore exempt from execution. The motion for a stay of execution was also denied.
Pittman, who was sentenced to death for the 1990 murders of three family members—Bonnie Knowles, her mother, and her father—has consiste