With less than two weeks remaining before his scheduled execution, Richard Knight is asking the Florida Supreme Court to halt the proceedings, citing a “lingering question” regarding an unidentified fingerprint found on the murder weapon.
Knight, who was convicted for the June 2000 murders of Odessia Stephens and her four-year-old daughter, Hanessia Mullings, is currently set to die by lethal injection on May 21, 2026, at 6:00 p.m.
On Monday, his legal team filed an emergency motion for a stay of execution, arguing that the state has never identified a “usable print of value” found on the blade of the bloody knife used in the killings.
In the filing, defense attorney Todd Scher noted that while Knight’s presence at the scene was established through forensic testing, the evidence also pointed to others. One individual, Victoria Martino, was linked to the scene but never charged. The third individual—the owner of the fingerprint on the blade—remains unknown.
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“The question—never answered by the State at Mr. Knight’s capital trial—is who was the third individual?” Scher wrote. “The time to find out is now before time runs out.”
The defense further argued that the 29-day warrant period is too short to properly litigate complex constitutional issues, including a challenge to the state’s lethal injection protocol. They claimed the “exigencies of a death warrant” have forced a race against the clock that undermines due process.
The State of Florida filed a formal objection just hours later, urging the court to deny the stay and proceed with the execution. Assistant Attorneys General Lisa-Marie Lerner and Leslie T. Campbell argued that Knight’s claims are “untimely, procedurally barred, and/or meritless.”
According to the state’s filing, Knight has known about the unidentified print for 25 years and failed to show due diligence in seeking further testing until the “eleventh hour.” Prosecutors also emphasized that the victims’ blood was found on Knight’s body and the clothing he wore during the crimes.
“The time has come for Knight’s death sentence to be enforced,” the state’s response read. Prosecutors also invoked “Marsy’s Law,” stating that the victims’ families have a constitutional right to a “prompt and final conclusion” to a case that has been litigated for over two decades.
The Florida Supreme Court must now decide whether to grant the stay for further evidentiary hearings or allow the execution to move forward as scheduled.
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