Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday signed a death warrant for a man convicted of killing a Fort Pierce police officer during a 1991 traffic stop, as DeSantis moves rapidly to continue executions after the state set a modern-era record last year.
The warrant would lead to Billy Leon Kearse, 53, being put to death by lethal injection on March 3, according to documents posted on the Florida Supreme Court website. DeSantis has also signed death warrants to execute Ronald Heath on Feb. 10 and Melvin Trotter on Feb. 24.
Florida in 2025 set a modern-era record with 19 executions. The previous record was eight executions in 1984 and 2014. The modern era represents the time since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, after a 1972 U.S. Supreme Court decision halted it.
The death of the Fort Pierce officer and how Kearse was involved
Kearse was convicted in the Jan. 18, 1991, shooting death of police officer Danny Parrish, who had stopped Kearse’s vehicle because it was traveling the wrong way on a one-way street, according to a document from Attorney General James Uthmeier included in Thursday’s Florida Supreme Court filings.
“Kearse could not produce a driver’s license and gave Officer Parrish several aliases,” the document said. “Officer Parrish ordered Kearse out of the car and as he attempted to handcuff Kearse, a scuffle ensued. Kearse grabbed Officer Parrish’s gun and fired 14 shots. Thirteen of the shots struck Officer Parrish, nine in his body and four in his bullet-proof vest. A taxi driver in the area heard the shots, saw a vehicle drive away, and called for assistance on Officer Parrish’s radio. Officer Parrish was taken to the hospital, where he died from the gunshot injuries.”
Legal aftermath of DeSantis’ previous death warrants
The signing of a death warrant typically leads to a flurry of legal arguments as defense attorneys seek to halt the execution.
Heath, 64, is fighting his scheduled execution at the Florida Supreme Court after an Alachua County circuit refused to block it. Heath was sentenced to death in the May 1989 murder of Michael Sheridan, who was shot, stabbed and robbed in a wooded area south of Gainesville, according to court documents. While Heath was sentenced to death, his brother, Kenneth Heath, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the case and is serving a life sentence.
Trotter, 65, was sentenced to death in the June 1986 murder of Virgie Langford, 70, who was found by a truck driver on the floor at the back of Langford’s Grocery Store in Palmetto, according to court documents. She had been repeatedly stabbed and robbed.
