Florida schedules execution for man who killed estranged wife's family, set house on fire

A Florida man convicted of killing his estranged wife's sister and parents before setting their house on fire years ago will be put to death next month which could extend the Sunshine State's record number of executions to David Pittman is set to be executed on Sept under a death warrant signed by Republican Gov Ron DeSantis on Friday Pittman was convicted in and sentenced to death on three counts of first-degree murder as well as arson and grand theft after the killings that were carried out the year before FLORIDA BREAKS -YEAR EXECUTION RECORD WITH NINTH DEATH SENTENCE CARRIED OUT THIS YEARPittman and his wife Marie were going through a divorce when he went to the home of her parents Clarence and Barbara Knowles in May and stabbed them and their younger daughter Bonnie to death according to functionaries He then lit the Polk County home on fire and stole Bonnie Knowles' car before also setting the car on fire investigators declared A witness identified Pittman as the man running away from the burning car and a jailhouse informant testified that Pittman had admitted to the stabbing deaths of his wife's family The Florida Supreme Court will hear an appeal seeking to block the execution and an appeal will also likely be filed with the U S Supreme Court In the state Supreme Court denied Pittman's claim that he was intellectually disabled as well as claims that his death sentence was illegal because he had not received an evidentiary hearing on his disability claim EXECUTION DATE SET FOR FLORIDA MAN CONVICTED OF KIDNAPPING WOMAN KILLING HERPittman is set to be the th person put to death in Florida this year including Kayle Bates and Curtis Windom who are scheduled for execution later this month Florida has executed more people this year than any other state with after an execution in July Texas and South Carolina are tied for the second-most with four each Before this year Florida's previous record for executions in a year since the death penalty was restored in was eight in The Associated Press contributed to this review