David Pittman is scheduled to be executed in Florida on September 17, 2025 for the 1990 murders of Clarence, Barbara and Bonnie Knowles.

Join the Virtual Sit In

Call Governor DeSantis at 850-717-9337 with the following message:

"Hi. My name is [your name]. I am calling to express my concern about the direction Florida is headed with regards to the death penalty. Florida has beat its own record and has now executed more individuals this year than in any previous year. True accountability does not require mirroring the violence you claim to want to stop and denies the power of redemption."

Register for the 9/17 Virtual Vigil beginning at 5pm ET.

Case narrative from our friends at Floridians For Alternatives to the Death Penalty:

The State of Florida intends to execute David Joseph Pittman on September 17 despite overwhelming evidence that he is intellectually disabled. This execution would not only violate the U.S. Constitution, but would place Florida among the few jurisdictions willing to ignore categorical protections recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court.

For decades, Mr. Pittman’s record has documented cognitive impairments: IQ scores of 70 and 71 before the age of 18, placement in special education classes, and diagnoses reflecting brain damage consistent with congenital impairment. More recent evaluations confirm he meets every medical and legal criterion for intellectual disability (Atkins v. Virginia and Hall v. Florida). Still, Floria courts, citing shifting and inconsistent interpretations of retroactivity, have repeatedly blocked him from even presenting this evidence.

This is procedural gamemanship with a human life at stake. The Florida Supreme Court recognized in Walls v. State that Hall must apply retroactively to all cases. But only four years later, the DeSantis-appointed majority reversed course and srtripped away that safeguard (Phillips v. State). This decision left people like David Pittman vulnerable to unconstitutional executions. Even Mr. Pittman’s trial court recently acknowledged its concern that Florida may indeed be preparing to execute an intellectually disabled man, but claimed it was bound by precedent to let the execution proceed.

Mr. Pittman’s execution will not bring healing or safety — it will only deepen the cruelty and arbitrariness of Florida’s death penalty system. Florida has already carried out an unprecedented number of executions in 2025. To add to that toll by killing a man who is categorically ineligible for execution under the Constitution will be yet another grave miscarriage of justice and stain on our state.

We believe in accountability, but true accountability does not require execution. A sentence of life without the possibility of parole protects society while also recognizing the human capacity for redemption and the role of childhood trauma in shaping adult behavior.

Florida does not need the death penalty to be safe. This execution will not make us safer, it will simply add another act of violence to an already tragic story. Justice does not require death. Florida's continued use of executions marks the state as an outlier in its use of the death penalty. The majority of other states are on a downward trend of executions.

Please sign the petition asking Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida State Board of Executive Clemency to do everything within their power to stop this execution, including issuing a stay, and seeking a path to clemency in the case.