Thirty-three years after 32-year-old florist Richard Kunkel was lured from a West Palm Beach gay nightclub and shot dead, his nephew is asking Governor Ron DeSantis to sign the death warrant of the man convicted of killing him. Brian Kunkel says his family has waited more than three decades for Ronald Knight's execution, and that his grandparents died without ever seeing it happen.
Kunkel's push comes as a clemency hearing for Knight is underway, a step that could clear the way for DeSantis to sign the warrant, according to WPTV. A representative from the Florida Attorney General's Office helped expedite that hearing, the station reports, and Brian Kunkel is now waiting to learn its outcome.
A Night at Roosters Nightclub Turned Deadly
According to court records cited by the station, Knight and two other men went to Roosters nightclub in West Palm Beach in 1993 looking for a man to lure away, rob and beat. They convinced Richard Kunkel to leave with them, and Knight drove him to a secluded area, shot and killed him, and the group then robbed him, stole his car and burglarized his home.
Brian Kunkel described his uncle as fun-loving, friendly, outgoing and generous, and in another characterization offered to the station, as a really good man with an electric smile. He told WPTV he feels anger and a range of emotions about the murder, and that his grandparents died without closure. He believes, he said, that his grandmother died of a broken heart.
A Second Murder Became the Aggravating Factor
Knight was also charged in 1995 in the killing of 22-year-old Brendan Meehan, who was lured from Heartbreakers nightclub on Olive Avenue in West Palm Beach in May of that year and killed in a secluded area after being taken there, per WPTV's reporting. Prosecutors initially charged Knight with second-degree murder in Kunkel's death back in 1994, but dropped that charge in January 1995 while investigating his involvement in Meehan's killing, according to filings before the United States District Court Southern District of Florida.
Knight was convicted of Meehan's murder and received a life sentence, and prosecutors later used that conviction as a prior violent felony aggravating factor to secure a death sentence in the Kunkel case. He was re-indicted on upgraded first-degree capital murder charges in May 1997 and sentenced to death in 1998, more than four years after Kunkel's murder.
During the guilt phase of his Palm Beach County trial, Knight waived his right to a jury and represented himself with standby counsel, and a judge convicted him of first-degree murder, according to filings reviewed by United States Courts. He later re-engaged defense attorney Jose Sosa to represent him during the penalty phase. Knight's two co-defendants, Timothy Peirson and Dain Brennault, received far lighter outcomes after agreeing to cooperate and testify against him — three years in prison and five years of probation, respectively, per FindLaw.
Appeals Exhausted, Clemency Remains
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of Knight's federal habeas corpus petition in May 2020, rejecting his claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel, according to the same FindLaw record. That ruling effectively closed off Knight's major federal post-conviction appeals, leaving executive clemency as his primary remaining avenue to avoid execution.
Under Section 922.052 of the Florida Statutes, once the state Supreme Court certifies that post-conviction proceedings are complete, the governor may sign an execution warrant if clemency has been evaluated and concluded, per the Florida Legislature. The law directs prison wardens to carry out scheduled executions within 180 days of a warrant's issuance.
Florida's Execution Pace Draws Scrutiny
Ronald Knight remains on death row as Florida pushes through an unprecedented stretch of executions. The state carried out a record 19 executions in 2025, the highest single-year total since capital punishment resumed in 1976, and has executed 17 people so far in 2026 with two more scheduled, according to WPTV's reporting. PBS News reports Florida accounted for more than half of all U.S. executions during this timeframe.
Capital defense attorney Carey Haughwout said she questions whether Florida is keeping up with the pace of executions while ensuring quality in the process. Grace Hanna, affiliated with Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said the state has not made clear how or why people are chosen for execution. Defense attorneys and death penalty opponents more broadly warn that the compressed timelines could strain the appeals process.
That strain surfaced earlier this month when DeSantis withdrew a signed death warrant for 74-year-old inmate William Lee Thompson over health and mental competency concerns — the first time he had rescinded a warrant during his tenure, PBS News reports. Thompson's counsel had argued that his severe dementia rendered him ineligible for execution.
Part of a Broader Legal Shift
Florida's capital punishment framework has changed significantly in recent years. In April 2023, DeSantis signed legislation allowing capital juries to recommend death by an 8-4 vote rather than a unanimous 12-0 decision, establishing the lowest jury threshold for executions in the country, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The law followed public backlash over a non-unanimous life sentence in the 2018 Parkland school shooting trial.
The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of that 8-4 non-unanimous jury law in December 2025, rejecting death row inmates' claims that the reduced threshold violates state and federal constitutional protections, according to WLRN. Alabama is the only other state that allows non-unanimous jury capital recommendations.
For Brian Kunkel, the legal and political backdrop is secondary to a simple point he has made about the decades since his uncle's murder. He has said that Knight has access to food, medical attention and daylight in jail, while Richard Kunkel and Brendan Meehan cannot see family and are buried. As Knight's clemency hearing plays out, Brian Kunkel is waiting, as his family has for 33 years, to learn what happens next.
