Tallahassee, Florida– A man convicted of killing a street vendor during a robbery is scheduled to become Florida’s first execution of 2026 under a death warrant signed Friday by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. There were 19 executions recorded last year
Ronald Palmer Heath, 64, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on February 10 at a Florida state prison. DeSantis oversaw 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.
Heath was convicted of first-degree murder, robbery with a deadly weapon, and multiple forgery charges in 1990.
According to court records, Heath and his brother Kenneth Heath met peddler Michael Sheridan at a Gainesville bar in May 1989. After hanging out at the bar for a while, the three men agreed to go somewhere else to smoke marijuana.
At some point, the brothers planned to rob the other man, investigators said. Ronald Heath led the group to a remote area, where Kenneth Heath pulled a gun on Sheridan. The man initially refused to give the brothers anything, and Kenneth Heath shot Sheridan in the chest.
While Sheridan was emptying his pockets, Ronald Heath began kicking the man and stabbing him with a hunting knife, prosecutors said. Kenneth Heath then shot Sheridan twice in the head.
The brothers dumped Sheridan’s body in a wooded area and returned to a Gainesville bar to grab items from his rental car. The brothers made multiple purchases using Sheridan’s credit cards the next day at a mall in Gainesville.
Ronald Heath was arrested several weeks later at his home in Douglas, Georgia after investigators linked him to the stolen credit cards. Officers recovered clothing purchased with the stolen cards, as well as Sheridan’s watch, according to court records.
Kenneth Heath was also charged with Sheridan’s murder, but was sentenced to life in prison as part of a plea agreement.
Ronald Heath’s attorneys are expected to file an appeal with the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.
A total of 47 people They were executed in the United States in 2025. Florida led the way with a series of death warrants signed by DeSantis. The state’s final execution in 2025 was lethal injection on December 18 Frank Athen Wallswho was convicted of shooting a man and his girlfriend during a home robbery.