Execution set for man convicted in stabbing death of Coral Springs mom, daughter
A man convicted of the brutal double murder of his housemate and her 4-year-old daughter in Coral Springs will be executed this May after sitting on death row for nearly two decades.
On Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant for Richard Knight, 47, who a jury unanimously found had stabbed Odessia Stephens and Hanessia Mullings in June 2000. He is set to die by lethal injection on May 21 at 6 p.m.
Here’s what to know.
Double stabbing in 2000
Richard Knight was living with his cousin, Hans Mullings, Mullings’ girlfriend Odessia Stephens, and the couple’s 4-year-old daughter, Hanessia Mullings, at the Green Glades apartment complex at the time of the murders, records show.
Reporting from the time by the South Florida Sun Sentinel quotes friends and family who remembered the mother and daughter for their brightness and perseverance through difficult financial times.
According to court records, Knight confessed to a cellmate that he had been arguing with Stephens the night of June 27, 2000. She no longer wanted him to live with the couple and their daughter, and told him that he needed to move out of the home the next morning.
A short time later, Knight entered the master bedroom where Stephens and her daughter were, while his cousin was out. After continuing to argue with Stephens, he grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed her 21 times, investigators said. She “eventually stopped defending herself and balled up into a fetal position,” while her daughter cried loudly enough for the neighbors to hear her, according to court documents.
Knight then turned to the young child and stabbed her, breaking the knife while doing so, records state. He retrieved another knife from the kitchen, and when he returned, he saw and heard Hanessia taking her final breaths.
During this time, court records show, Stephens had crawled from her bedroom to the living room. Knight attacked her again, then tossed his bloodied clothes under the sink, showered and attempted to flee the scene. An officer reported finding him 100 yards from the building.
Knight was charged with two counts of capital murder in August 2001, to which he pleaded not guilty. A jury returned a guilty verdict on both counts in April 2006 and unanimously recommended a death sentence after less than an hour of deliberation that summer, the Sun Sentinel reported.
What’s next?
After years of appeals, Knight’s death warrant was signed April 22.
Knight is set to be executed via three-drug lethal injection. As per protocol, he will reside in a death watch cell at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, Florida, until his execution date.
It will be the latest in a record-breaking number of executions in Florida as part of DeSantis’ efforts to accelerate the death penalty process.
