Tallahassee, Florida– The man convicted of shooting a police officer with his service weapon during a traffic stop is scheduled to be Florida’s third execution of 2026, putting the state on track to match or possibly surpass last year. There were 19 executions recorded.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday signed the execution order for Billy Leon Kearse, 53, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection on March 3 at a Florida state prison.
DeSantis, a Republican, will oversee more executions in a single year in 2025 than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The previous record was set in 2014 with eight executions.
Two executions are already scheduled for next month. Ronald Palmer Heath64, is scheduled to die on February 10, and his death sentence is being carried out Melvin Trotter65, is scheduled for February 24, exactly one week before KERS.
Kearse was initially sentenced to death in 1991 after being found guilty of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm. The Florida Supreme Court found that the trial court failed to give jurors certain information about the aggravating circumstances and ordered a new verdict. Kearse was re-sentenced to death in 1997.
According to court records, Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish stopped Kearse for driving the wrong way on a one-way street in January 1991. When Kearse was unable to produce a valid driver’s license, Parrish ordered Kearse out of his car and attempted to handcuff him.
A struggle ensued, and Kearse grabbed Parrish’s gun, prosecutors said. Kearse fired 14 times, hitting the officer nine times in the body and four times in his body armor. A nearby taxi driver heard the shots and used Parish Radio to call for help.
Parrish was taken to a nearby hospital where he died of his injuries, officials said. Meanwhile, police used license plate information that Parrish had called before approaching Kearse to identify the attacker’s car and home address, where Kearse was arrested.
Kearse’s lawyers are expected to file an appeal with the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Forty-seven people They were executed in the United States in 2025, the highest total since 2009. Florida led the way with a wave of death orders signed by DeSantis.
DeSantis explained the unprecedented number of executions last year by saying his goal was to bring justice to the families of victims who had waited decades for executions.
The governor said: “Some of these crimes were committed in the 1980s.” “Justice delayed is justice denied. I felt like I owed it to them to make sure it went very smoothly. If I honestly believed someone was innocent, I wouldn’t have pulled the trigger.”
All executions in Florida are carried out by lethal injection using a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.