Very little is publicly known about David Dawson’s early life or personal background. His public history begins with his imprisonment at the Delaware Correctional Center in Smyrna, Delaware, where he was serving time before the events that led to his death sentence. There is no official record available about his upbringing, family life, education, or employment before his incarceration.

In the early morning hours of December 1, 1986, David Dawson and three other inmates escaped from the Delaware Correctional Center in Smyrna. While the others fled north, Dawson went south. After burglarizing a home in Kenton, he broke into the home of Richard and Madeline Kisner. Inside, Dawson encountered Mrs. Kisner alone. He tied her up and stabbed her 12 times, killing her. He then stole her car and money and fled the scene.

Dawson was arrested the following day, found asleep inside another stolen car in Milford, Delaware.

In 1988, Dawson was convicted of first-degree murder, burglary, escape, and related charges. During the penalty phase, prosecutors introduced evidence that Dawson was affiliated with the Aryan Brotherhood, a white supremacist prison gang. Dawson entered into a stipulation agreeing that the Aryan Brotherhood was a racist organization with roots in California prisons, in exchange for excluding expert testimony.

However, the U.S. Supreme Court later ruled in Dawson v. Delaware (1992) that this evidence violated his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights, because the stipulation had no direct relevance to the murder, and both Dawson and his victim were white. The Court vacated the death sentence and remanded the case.

Upon resentencing in 1993, Dawson was once again sentenced to death. He was executed by lethal injection on April 26, 2001. No last words were publicly recorded.