TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Billy Kearse is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday, March 3, at 6:00 p.m. ET at Florida State Prison. Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) is advocating for a stay of Mr. Kearse’s execution through a petition and letter-writing campaign to Gov. DeSantis, and will be hosting vigils throughout the state should the execution proceed. Maria DeLiberato, FADP’s Legal and Policy Director and a capital defense attorney, will be attending and speaking at the vigil held across from Florida State Prison (23916 NW 83rd Ave., Raiford, FL 32026), which begins at 5:00 p.m. ET on the day of the execution.
Case Background
Billy Leon Kearse is a Black man with intellectual disabilities who was sentenced to death for the 1991 murder of Sgt. Danny Parrish in St. Lucie County. He was just 18 years and 84 days old at the time of the crime. His legal arguments hinge on two claims:
- His intellectual disability – particularly when considered alongside his age at the time of the offense – renders him constitutionally ineligible for execution. Age and intellectual disability are the only categorical constitutional bars to the death penalty in the United States. Recent IQ testing and evaluation of his adaptive functioning places Mr. Kearse squarely within the range recognized as intellectually disabled.
- The Florida Supreme Court has foreclosed meaningful review of newly discovered evidence after a death warrant is signed. In Mr. Kearse’s case, the court declined to consider evidence that a juror may have been improperly influenced by the presence of uniformed law enforcement officers in the courtroom. It also refused to permit a lower court to hear arguments regarding a recent ruling from the Supreme Court of the United States concerning lethal injection.
Mr. Kearse’s case also highlights the extreme compression of Florida’s death warrant litigation process, which unfolds in a matter of weeks. During this warrant period, Mr. Kearse’s attorney of over 20 years lost his father. The State agreed to only a 48-hour extension for a single filing deadline. This rigid, accelerated schedule leaves minimal flexibility in cases involving complex constitutional claims and substantial evidentiary issues, even when unforeseen circumstances arise. In capital litigation – where the consequence is irreversible – such rigidity raises serious concerns about whether the process allows for careful and meaningful review.
Mr. Kearse’s case is now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Justices are expected to issue a decision prior to Tuesday’s scheduled execution.
Maria DeLiberato, Esq., Legal and Policy Director for FADP, stated, “Mr. Kearse’s case implicates nearly every constitutional and due process concern imaginable – from the fact that he was just 18 years old at the time of the offense, to his well-documented intellectual disability, to the circumstances surrounding the tragic death of Sgt. Parrish, which reflect the kind of panicked, fight-or-flight impulsivity we know is common in late adolescent brains.” DeLiberato continued, “That impulsivity is precisely why the Supreme Court of the United States barred the death penalty for those under 18, recognizing that juveniles lack the maturity, judgment, and neurological development of adults. From a constitutional standpoint, Billy Kearse never should have been sentenced to death – let alone executed.”
Melanie Verdecia (née Kalmanson), Esq., the author of Tracking Florida’s Death Penalty and the co-author of an op-ed with retired Florida Supreme Court justice Barbara Pariente about the Kearse case adds, “The circumstances surrounding execution-related litigation in Kearse’s case illustrates the fundamental inhumanity of the penalty legal landscape in the State of Florida – how prisoners sit on death row for decades, just to be rushed to execution in ~30 days without any regard for due process or even the humanity of their defense teams.”
Florida Context
If carried out, Mr. Kearse’s execution would be the third in Florida this year and the 31st under Governor Ron DeSantis. Nineteen executions took place in 2025 alone, accounting for approximately 40% of all executions nationwide. Florida currently maintains the most expansive death penalty scheme in the country. The state allows death sentences based on an 8-4 jury recommendation and has enacted statutes authorizing the death penalty for certain non-homicide offenses – both moves that directly challenge longstanding U.S. Supreme Court precedent. Additionally, Florida is the only executing state in which the Governor has sole authority to sign death warrants and grant clemency, without binding oversight from the clemency board or an independent body.
Kearse’s execution is occurring amidst ongoing controversy regarding Florida’s undisputed failure to comply with its own lethal injection protocols. The State’s Department of Corrections’ records show that expired drugs, incomplete dosages, and unauthorized chemicals were used in multiple executions in 2025. Poor record-keeping practices leave open the possibility that even more serious concerns went undocumented.
There are currently two additional executions scheduled in Florida: Michael King on March 17, and James Duckett on March 31.
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FADP is a Florida-based, statewide organization of individuals and groups working together to end the death penalty in Florida. Our network includes dozens of state and local groups and thousands of individual Floridians, including murder victims’ family members and other survivors of violent crime, law enforcement professionals, families of the incarcerated, and death row exonerees.