A Florida man, who prosecutors assert wrested a police officer’s firearm during a traffic stop in 1991 and fatally shot him, was executed on Tuesday evening. This followed the U.S. Supreme Court’s dismissal of his last-ditch appeals.
Billy Leon Kearse, aged 53, faced execution through a three-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison, located near Starke, starting at 6 p.m.
Kearse was originally sentenced to death in 1991, having been found guilty of first-degree murder and armed robbery. However, the Florida Supreme Court later determined that the jury had not received proper instructions regarding aggravating factors, leading to a new sentencing hearing. In 1997, he was again sentenced to death.
This execution marks the third in Florida for 2026, following a staggering 19 executions in the previous year, 2025.
On August 3, 2023, clouds loomed over the entrance to the Florida State Prison in Starke, Fla. (AP)
Republican Governor Ron DeSantis notably signed more death warrants last year than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Previously, the highest number of death warrants signed in a single year was eight, achieved in 1984 and again in 2014 under governors Bob Graham and Rick Scott, respectively.
Court records show Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish stopped Kearse in January 1991 for driving the wrong way on a one-way street. After Kearse failed to produce a valid driver’s license and resisted being handcuffed, a struggle broke out.
During the confrontation, Kearse grabbed Parrish’s firearm and fired 14 shots, striking the officer nine times and hitting his body armor four times, prosecutors said. A nearby taxi driver heard the gunfire and used Parrish’s radio to call for help.
This photo shows a gurney used in giving lethal injections to convicted death row inmates. (Sue Ogrocki, File)
Parrish was taken to a hospital, where he died from his wounds.
Investigators used license plate information Parrish had radioed in before the struggle to identify Kearse’s vehicle and home address. He was arrested shortly afterward.
Last week, the Florida Supreme Court denied Kearse’s appeals, in which his attorneys argued he was deprived of a fair penalty phase and that his intellectual disability made him ineligible for execution. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeal Tuesday without comment.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. (Octavio Jones/Getty Images)
A total of 47 people were executed in the U.S. last year. Florida carried out the most, outpacing Texas, South Carolina and Alabama, which each conducted five executions.
Two more executions are scheduled in Florida this month. Michael Lee King, 54, is set to be executed March 17. James Aren Duckett, 68, is scheduled for March 31.
Duckett, a former police officer, was convicted in 1987 of raping and murdering 11-year-old Teresa McAbee. At the time, he was working for the Mascotte Police Department when McAbee was last seen getting into his patrol car outside a convenience store. Her body was later found less than a mile away in a lake. Authorities said she had been sexually battered, strangled and drowned.
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