Yesterday afternoon, Governor DeSantis signed a death warrant for Billy Leon Kearse. His execution is scheduled for March 3 at 6 pm. That makes three people on death watch. Three executions scheduled in just over three weeks. All three death watch cells are full.
It is an execution assembly line. And it is still January.
Billy was sentenced to death for the 1991 killing of Officer Danny Parrish. Nothing about opposing Billy’s execution diminishes the profound loss suffered by Officer Parrish’s family or the seriousness of the harm caused. But killing Billy will not honor that loss. It will not bring accountability or healing. It will only add another irreversible act of violence, carried out by a system that is already demonstrating dangerous disregard for even the most basic safeguards.
We will share more soon about Billy and the crime he committed when he was 18 years old, but the urgency is already clear. We need you to act now. Please sign this petition urging the Governor and Clemency Board to stop his execution.
There is something deeply bitter about continuing to appeal to a clemency process that has so thoroughly failed the people of the State of Florida. It is infuriating that we are once again being forced to beg the very officials who created and are responsible for this crisis to stop it. But here is the truth we will not let them escape: these executions exist because they chose them. And they can be undone the same way they were imposed. The same pen that scheduled these killings can stop them. Just as easily. At any moment. We will never stop demanding that they use it.
Florida Cannot Justify Executing Ronnie Heath
What is unfolding in Ronnie Heath’s case, now before the Florida Supreme Court, should terrify every person in this state. As the state moves to execute Ronnie on February 10 at 6 pm for the murder of Michael Sheridan, Florida is yet again being accused of carrying out lethal injections under a protocol it cannot reliably follow or even document.
The state’s own records reveal the use of expired execution drugs, administration of drugs not authorized by its own protocol, preparation of incorrect dosages, failure to record what drugs were used or when, and in some cases documentation of drug use only after executions had already taken place. These are not allegations. These are Florida’s own records. They remain unrebutted. Instead of fixing these failures, the state is blocking investigation and rushing forward with executions anyway.
Florida is executing people faster than ever using a lethal injection process it cannot transparently track, explain, or defend. This is beyond reckless. It is outrageous. And it demands resistance. Please sign this petition and urge the Clemency Board to choose restraint. After you sign, please take a moment to send Governor DeSantis a message directly. Silence is exactly what this administration is counting on.
Melvin Trotter: A Sentence Carried Out by Rote
Melvin Trotter is scheduled for execution on February 24 at 6 pm. Melvin was sentenced to death for the 1986 murder of Virgie Langford. That violence was devastating, and nothing about opposing Melvin’s execution denies the harm done or the loss endured by those who loved her. But Florida’s response to that harm has become something else entirely.
Melvin’s death sentence was imposed by a system that routinely ignored severe trauma, instability, and intellectual limitations, then declared itself finished with him. These facts do not excuse his actions, but they do matter when the state is deciding whether to carry out an irreversible punishment. Decades later, the state is not weighing who Melvin is, who he has become, or whether killing him now serves any legitimate purpose. It is simply carrying out a punishment by rote. It is an abandonment of judgment.
Clemency exists for moments like this. Florida is choosing execution because it is easy, familiar, and politically expedient. But it can choose mercy instead. We are asking you to sign the petition urging Governor DeSantis and the Clemency Board to stop Melvin Trotter’s execution and choose restraint over another act of state violence.
What We Choose in This Moment Matters
We can acknowledge the gravity of these crimes while still refusing to accept execution as the answer. Victims and their loved ones deserve honesty, care, and accountability, not a system that responds to violence with more violence. Executions offer no healing. They only ensure that harm continues.
History will remember what Florida chose to do at this moment. Let it also remember that people across this state stood up and said: not in our name.
Onward,
Bridget Maloney
Communications Director
P.S. Everything FADP does, from our opposition to executions, our legislative advocacy, and our assistance to death row inmates and their families, is made possible because people like you give. I believe in our work so deeply that I’ve continued with it throughout law school. If you are able, please consider making a donation today. Your support allows FADP to continue bearing witness, supporting families, and fighting for a better Florida.
P.P.S. Join us this Sunday night on Death Penalty Action’s The Forecast, where advocates from states with upcoming execution dates (us!) will review what’s happening and the actions that can still make a difference.