David Joseph Pittman Execution

Pittman and his wife, Marie, were going through a divorce in May 1990, when Pittman went to the Polk County home of her parents, Clarence and Barbara Knowles, officials said. Pittman fatally stabbed the couple, as well as their younger [adult] daughter, Bonnie. He then set fire to the house and stole Bonnie Knowles’ car, which he also set on fire, investigators said.

Another Florida execution, another horrible set of facts. I can understand the death sentence. It was not just bare barbarism. 

On Constitution Day [My Substack discussion], the day the Constitution was signed, we can still point to various constitutional problems. 

Thirty-five years is too long to wait between arrest and execution. Justices no longer appear to care, but I do. Justice Breyer explains why:

First, a lengthy delay in and of itself is especially cruel because it “subjects death row inmates to decades of especially severe, dehumanizing conditions of confinement.” Second, lengthy delay undermines the death penalty’s penological rationale. [Citations removed.]

There is also clear evidence that Pittman is intellectually disabled. The Florida Supreme Court didn't honor precedent, so relief was procedurally blocked. That is another Eighth Amendment problem.

Contrary to Prof. Reasonable Conservative's assurances, the Supreme Court is still acting in the shadows, including on the death penalty docket. The final decision allowing his execution was unexplained. The liberals also did not explain themselves. 

Florida, relatively speaking, is busy executing people on their death row for a long period of time. The net value to the public welfare is open to debate. 

His dying words included a proclamation of innocence. That is absurd. He still shouldn't have been executed. The death penalty should end. 

There will now be a push to execute the murderer of Charlie Kirk. That too is not how we will address the political violence that poisons our times. 

Censorship won't do it either.