STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man convicted of killing his estranged wife's sister and parents and setting their house on fire was put to death Wednesday evening in what was a record 12th execution in the state this year.
David Pittman, 63, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. EDT following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke under a death warrant signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“I know you all came to watch an innocent man be murdered by the state of Florida. I am innocent. I didn’t kill anybody. That’s it," Pittman was quoted as saying in his last words, according to a statement from DeSantis spokesperson Alex Lanfranconi.
As the drugs were being administered, Pittman took a few deep breaths and then was still.
In 1991, Pittman was convicted and sentenced to death on three counts of first-degree murder, according to court records. Jurors also found him guilty of arson and grand theft.
Pittman and his wife, Marie, were going through a contentious divorce in May 1990, when the killings occurred, and investigators say he had threatened to harm her family several times.
Trial testimony showed Pittman cut a phone line at the Mulberry, Florida, home of his wife’s parents, Clarence Knowles, 60, and his wife, 50-year-old Barbara Knowles. Pittman stabbed the couple to death as well as their other daughter, 21-year-old Bonnie Knowles. Pittman then set their house on fire and stole Bonnie Knowles’ car, which he also set ablaze. The family was found dead on May 15 of that year.
A witness during his 1991 trial identified Pittman as the person seen running away from the burning car. A jailhouse informant also testified that Pittman had admitted to the killings. Jurors recommended the death penalty on a 9-3 vote.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, whose county was where the killings took place, observed the execution Wednesday evening. He said it was fitting to see Pittman's death sentence carried out.
“He was evil then. He never changed,” Judd said afterward. “This evil man wiped out an entire family.”
On Tuesday, Pittman's final appeal was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.
His most recent appeals had focused on recent evidence indicating he suffers from intellectual disabilities, including an IQ in the low 70s, that was apparent at the time of the killings. His lawyers had argued that his execution would violate the Constitution’s protection against executing a person with severe mental problems.
Lawyers for the state disagreed, contending it came too late for Pittman to claim mental impairment from years earlier. The Florida Supreme Court, reversing a previous decision, had ruled in 2020 that such claims could not be applied retroactively.
So far 31 people had been executed in the U.S. to date this year, with Florida leading the nation on a flurry of death warrants signed by DeSantis, who has signed more warrants than any of his predecessors.
Two more Florida executions are scheduled for this fall. Victor Tony Jones is set to die on Sept. 30 for the 1990 killings of two people during a robbery and Samuel Lee Smithers is scheduled to be executed on Oct. 14 for the murders of two women in 1996.
Before Pittman, the last person executed in Florida was 59-year-old Curtis Windom on Aug. 28, for his conviction in the 1992 murders of his girlfriend, her mother and another man.
Florida conducts all its executions with a three-drug injection — a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections.
FILE - Clouds hover over the entrance of the Florida State Prison in Starke, Fla., Aug. 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Curt Anderson, file)
This undated photo provided by Florida Department of Corrections shows death row inmate David J. Pittman. (Florida Department of Corrections via AP)
NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand (AP) — A construction crane crashed onto a moving passenger train in northeastern Thailand on Wednesday, triggering a fiery derailment that killed at least 32 people and injured dozens more.
The crash occurred in Nakhon Ratchasima, some 200 kilometers (135 miles) northeast of Bangkok, on a section of a planned high-speed rail project that is intended to eventually connect China with much of Southeast Asia.
The province's Public Health Provincial Office said there were 32 fatalities and 64 injured victims, including seven with severe injuries. There were still three passengers missing among the 171 believed to have been on board the train, it said in a statement issued as night fell.
Authorities said the crane was being used to build an elevated part of the railway when it fell as the train was traveling from the capital, Bangkok, to Ubon Ratchathani province. Thailand's Rail Transport Department said the crane was what is called a launching gantry crane, a self-supporting structure with vertical legs that usually runs on rails or wheels for mobility, allowing it to progress along with the construction project that it straddles. Such cranes are often used to help build elevated roads.
Images published in Thai media showed plumes of white, then dark, smoke rising from the crash site, with construction equipment dangling from girders between two concrete support pillars.
Rescue workers stood on top of overturned railway carriages, some of them with gaping holes torn on their sides, video from public broadcaster ThaiPBS showed. What appeared to be sections of the crane were scattered along the track.
Sixty-two year-old Samai Teechantuek, whose house is about 100 meters (yards) from the site of the accident, told The Associated Press of the horror of witnessing the accident, and hearing “the noises screeching, and then bam, bam, bam, all the way over there.”
“When the dust settled, I saw the top of the train carriage. I heard people shouting ‘save the children first!’” she said. "A conductor pulled people out. I saw them pulling many people out. People from the shop over there also ran out to help.”
“My legs were shaking. I was standing there shaking. I didn’t dare going any closer,” she said.
Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said he ordered an investigation.
In August 2024, a railway tunnel on the planned route, also in Nakhon Ratchasima, collapsed, killing three workers. Days of heavy rainfall were believed to have been a factor in the collapse.
The elevated segment that collapsed is a part of a Thai-Chinese high-speed railway project linking the capital to the northeastern province of Nong Khai, bordering Laos. The two-stage rail project has a total investment cost of more than 520 billion baht ($16.8 billion) and is associated with an ambitious plan to connect China with Southeast Asia under Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative. The section where the accident took place had a budget of more than 179 billion baht ($5.7 billion) and according to its original plans was expected to start operating in 2027.
Anan Phonimdaeng, acting governor of the State Railway of Thailand, said the project's contractor is Italian-Thai Development, with a Chinese company responsible for design and construction supervision.
He said authorities will examine the responsibilities of both parties, and the Railway Department plans to take legal action against the contractor as a first step. Damage to the train was estimated to be more than 100 million baht ($3.2 million), while construction equipment suffered limited damage, said Anan.
A statement posted on the company's website expressed condolences to the victims and said the company would take responsibility for paying compensation to the families of the dead and hospitalization expenses for the injured.
The main contractor for the route's first stage between Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima, Italian-Thai Development, was also the directly responsible for construction of the segment where Wednesday's accident occurred.
The rail accident sparked outrage because the company, also known as Italthai, was also the co-lead contractor for the State Audit Building in the Thai capital Bangkok, which collapsed during construction in March during a major earthquake.
About 100 people were killed in the collapse, which was the only major structure in Thailand to suffer such serious damage. Dozens of executives were indicted in connection with the disaster but none have yet been tried.
The involvement of Chinese companies in both projects has also drawn attention, as has Italthai's and Chinese companies' involvement in the construction of several expressway extensions in and around Bangkok where several accidents, some fatal, had occurred.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who was interior minister when the State Audit Building collapsed, said that the Comptroller General’s Department and Transport Ministry are responsible for blacklisting contractors, and the laws could not be amended in the brief time he was interior minister to expedite the matter.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the government was aware of the reports about the accident and had expressed condolences.
“The Chinese government attaches great importance to the safety of projects and personnel, and we are also learning about the situation,” he said. “At present, it appears that the relevant section is being constructed by a Thai company, and the cause of the accident is still under investigation.”
Wasamon reported from Bangkok.
Rescuers try to lift the wreckage after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan.14, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit))
Rescuers work amid the wreckage after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan.14, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit))
A rescuer stands near the wreckage after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan.14, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit))
Rescuers try to lift the wreckage after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan.14, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit))
Rescuers work amidst the wreckage after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan.14, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit))
Rescuers work amidst the wreckage after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan.14, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit))
An aid workers at the scene after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Nathathida Adireksarn)
The wreckage after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Nathathida Adireksarn)
This photo released from Thailand's Ministry of Transport, shows a scene after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (Ministry of Transport via AP)
This photo released from State Railway of Thailand, shows aid workers after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (State Railway of Thailand via AP)
This photo released from State Railway of Thailand, shows a scene after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (State Railway of Thailand via AP)
This photo released from State Railway of Thailand, shows a scene after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (State Railway of Thailand via AP)
This photo released from State Railway of Thailand, shows aid workers after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (State Railway of Thailand via AP)
This photo provided by State Railway of Thailand shows a scene after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (State Railway of Thailand via AP)
