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Florence Daniels dated Pitts for about ten years. She grew frustrated with Pitts sleeping around and broke things off with him. After they broke up, Pitts started living out of his car in a parking lot that neighbored her home. Despite Pitts’ infidelity, she took pity on him and would allow him to use her home so he didn’t have to live in his car.

Pitts, however, kept trying to rekindle their relationship. His unwanted advances led to her kicking him out completely and demanding he return his copy of the key. He gave her the key but secretly kept a copy for himself.

Later, Daniels ended up meeting and dating Barney “BJ” Rogers. She did not tell Pitts about it because it wasn’t any of his business. Pitts was furious when he found out. He accused Daniels of sleeping with her own brother, which was not true. Rogers and Daniels did share a half-sibling, but they had no blood relationship whatsoever. Pitts refused to accept that.

On July 4, 2005, Pitts repeatedly called Daniels throughout the day. It got to the point that Daniels called the police, but after she spoke with them the calls stopped until, around 11pm, Pitts called and left a voicemail. In it, After again accusing her of sleeping with her brother, Pitts told her she was going to get what she deserved.

Four hours later, Pitts let himself into Daniels’ house using the key he kept. He went to the kitchen and grabbed a butcher knife. After arming himself, he went upstairs and entered Daniels’ bedroom, where she and Rogers were sleeping.

Pitts moved onto the bed, which caused Daniels to wake up. She saw Pitts coming at her and saw that he had a knife, which he had raised as if he was going to stab her. She reacted by kicking, which woke Rogers.

After Rogers work up, Pitts removed his hand from Daniels’ mouth, crawled towards Rogers, and began stabbing him. A struggle between all three of them occurred. The melee eventually left the bedroom, with all three falling down the stairs.



Rogers managed to flee from the house, but Daniels was unable to get away. Pitts grabbed her and another knife, and dragged her back to her bedroom, telling her “bitch, we both getting ready to die here tonight.”

Meanwhile, Rogers made it to a neighbor’s house, hoping to get help. Seeing a man covered in blood at their door, the neighbor called police. Unfortunately, help did not arrive in time and Rogers died from the multiple stab wounds Pitts inflicted.

Police made their way to Daniels’ house. Seeing blood everywhere, the police forced their way into the home and ended up finding Daniels and Pitts in the upstairs bedroom. Pitts was using Daniels as a human shield, threatening to kill her with the knife he was holding. And that is how things remained for four hours until SWAT members managed to subdue Pitts using beanbag shotguns and tasers.

Pitts was unable to accept that Daniels wanted nothing to do with him after he was unfaithful to her. Despite his unfaithfulness, Daniels kindly allowed him to use her home. When she finally had enough of his trying to restart the relationship he destroyed, she kicked him out. Pitts then became engaged when he wrongly decided that Daniels was dating her brother. That rage culminated in Roger’s violent murder and Daniels being held hostage for four hours.

For his brutal crimes, Pitts should spend the rest of his life in prison. The Hamilton County Prosecutor’s office, therefor, opposes granting Pitts any type of early release.

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