Governor DeSantis has signed a death warrant for Billy Kearse who was sentenced to death for the 1991 murder of Fort Pierce police officer Danny Parrish. The execution is scheduled for Tuesday, March 3, at 6 p.m.
This execution comes just one week after Florida is scheduled to execute Melvin Trotter on February 24, and three weeks after Florida is scheduled to execute Ronnie Heath on February 10, continuing an unprecedented pace of executions.
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We stand together to urge you to stop the execution of Billy Kearse and grant clemency.
Billy Kearse was sentenced to death for the 1991 murder of Fort Pierce police officer Danny Parrish. This was a devastating act of violence that took a human life and inflicted profound harm on the people who loved him. Nothing in this request minimizes that loss or the seriousness of the crime. Honoring victims means acknowledging that harm while refusing to carry out further violence in their names.
Billy was 18 years and 84 days old at the time of the offense — legally an adult, but developmentally and cognitively far from fully formed. Trial records show he functioned academically at approximately a third-grade level and suffered from intellectual limitations, organic brain dysfunction, and indicators consistent with Fetal Alcohol Effect. Teachers described him as chronically neglected, frequently hungry, and severely emotionally disturbed. These are not excuses. They are facts about capacity and vulnerability that go directly to proportionality.
Three Florida Supreme Court Justices concluded decades ago that this was “clearly not a death case.” A federal appellate judge echoed that assessment years later. Those concerns have not disappeared with time.
Florida entered 2026 after the deadliest execution year in modern state history. Instead of pausing to reflect on the human and constitutional costs of that pace, the state has already scheduled two executions this year, beginning with Ronald Heath on February 10 and followed by Melvin Trotter on February 24.
A stay of execution is not weakness. It reflects responsibility and moral seriousness. Justice is measured not by how fast the state kills, but by whether it can exercise restraint, humanity, and dignity.
We urge you to halt this execution and grant clemency to Billy Kearse.
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I write to urge you to stop the execution of Billy Leon Kearse.
Officer Danny Parrish’s death in 1991 was a devastating loss. His family has lived with that grief for more than three decades. Nothing about this request minimizes the seriousness of the crime or the harm that was done. Justice requires that we acknowledge that loss fully and honestly.
But justice also requires careful judgment when the State considers taking another life.
Billy Kearse was just 18 years old at the time of the offense. He entered adulthood with severe trauma, intellectual disability, and documented neurological impairment. His IQ has been measured at approximately 69. He endured childhood abuse, instability, and deprivation that were never meaningfully addressed before he was sentenced to death.
Even the sentencing court recognized significant mitigating factors, including his extreme youth and intellectual limitations. His death sentence was imposed under Florida’s former capital sentencing scheme later ruled unconstitutional, where a judge rather than a unanimous jury made the findings necessary for death.
For more than thirty years, Billy has lived on death row. He has aged, reflected, and expressed remorse. He has become a self-taught artist and built relationships grounded in faith and accountability. Executing him now will not restore Officer Parrish’s life. It will not erase the grief endured by his loved ones. It will only extend the cycle of violence.
Clemency exists for moments like this — when time, youth, trauma, and human change demand restraint before an irreversible decision is carried out.
I urge you to use your authority to stay the execution of Billy Leon Kearse and commute his sentence.