Florida Criminal Justice Policy

Florida is set to carry out its first execution of 2026 on Tuesday evening, when 64‑year‑old Ronald Palmer Heath is scheduled to die by a three‑drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke for the 1989 robbery‑murder of traveling salesman Michael Sheridan. Heath was convicted in 1990 of first‑degree murder, armed robbery and related charges after he and his brother lured Sheridan from a Gainesville bar, robbed him, and shot, kicked and stabbed him before dumping his body and using his credit cards. The execution follows a record 19 Florida executions in 2025, the most under any governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, underscoring Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ aggressive use of capital punishment. The Florida Supreme Court last week rejected Heath’s final state appeals, which challenged the state’s clemency process, alleged mismanagement of execution protocols, raised juvenile‑incarceration brain‑development issues, and noted that his jury was not unanimous for death, though similar arguments remain pending at the U.S. Supreme Court. Florida has already set two more execution dates — for Melvin Trotter on Feb. 24 and Billy Leon Kearse on March 3 — as part of a national death‑penalty uptick that saw 47 executions across the U.S. in 2025, led by Florida, Alabama, South Carolina and Texas.