Death Row triple murderer’s final meal as he dines on steak before execution

Pittman, 63, spent more than 34 years on Death Row after being convicted in 1991 for the stabbing deaths of Clarence and Barbara Knowles and their daughter Bonnie inside their Mulberry home.

After killing them, prosecutors said, Pittman set the house on fire, turning the family’s residence into an inferno that lit up the night sky. He later stole Bonnie’s car, only to torch it and leave it abandoned in a ditch.

His punishment was handed down swiftly: three death sentences, plus convictions for arson and grand theft. Since then, he has lived in the shadow of the state’s execution chamber, with appeal after appeal denied by Florida courts and, most recently, the U.S. Supreme Court.

The high court turned down his request for a stay of execution just hours before his death, rejecting his lawyers’ arguments that he was intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for capital punishment.

Gov. Ron DeSantis had signed the death warrant on August 15, setting the date in stone barring any last-minute intervention.

Tradition allows condemned prisoners in Florida to request a final meal before execution. While the requests vary wildly – from fast-food staples to elaborate home-style dishes – many inmates keep it simple.

For Pittman,steak, chicken and biscuits will forever be remembered as the last thing he ate before prison staff escorted him into the death chamber.

Wednesday’s execution was historic for another reason: it was the 12th in Florida this year, setting a new record for the modern era of the death penalty in the state.

Even as the clock ticked down, opponents of capital punishment pleaded with officials to stop Pittman’s execution. Advocacy groups pointed to his abusive and impoverished upbringing, arguing that violence shaped him long before the state labelled him a murderer.

But courts held firm, saying his claims came too late and were procedurally barred.

For the families of Clarence, Barbara and Bonnie Knowles, the execution closed a painful chapter that began more than three decades ago with the fiery destruction of their home and the loss of three lives.

And as Pittman’s final meal was cleared away, the state of Florida moved forward with the process that ended his life, cementing his name in the record books as yet another inmate executed in what has already been a historic year.