Florida Set to Carry Out First Execution of 2026 in Landmark Death Penalty Case
Florida is scheduled to execute Ronald Palmer Heath on Tuesday evening, marking the state’s first lethal injection of 2026 and continuing a period of heightened capital punishment activity. The execution, set for 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke, follows a year in which Florida led the nation in the number of executions.
Heath, 64, was convicted in 1990 for the first-degree murder of Michael Sheridan, a traveling salesman, along with charges of robbery with a deadly weapon. The crime occurred in 1988, after Heath and his brother, Kenneth Heath, encountered Sheridan at a bar in Gainesville.
According to court records, the three men initially socialized and agreed to seek out marijuana. However, the encounter took a dark turn when the Heath brothers plotted to rob Sheridan. Ronald Heath drove the group to a secluded location where Kenneth Heath brandished a handgun. When Sheridan resisted, Kenneth Heath shot him in the chest.
The brutality escalated as Sheridan emptied his pockets. Prosecutors stated that Ronald Heath then kicked and stabbed the victim with a hunting knife, while Kenneth Heath ultimately shot Sheridan twice in the head. The brothers subsequently disposed of Sheridan’s body in a wooded area and returned to the bar, stealing items from his rental car. The following day, they used Sheridan’s credit cards to make purchases at a Gainesville mall.
Investigators eventually apprehended Ronald Heath several weeks later at his home in Douglas, Georgia, after tracing the stolen credit cards. Authorities recovered clothing and Sheridan’s watch purchased with the illicit funds. Kenneth Heath was also charged with murder but received a life sentence through a plea agreement.
Despite multiple appeals to the Florida Supreme Court arguing issues with death penalty protocols, a secretive clemency process, the impact of juvenile incarceration on brain development, and a lack of unanimous jury recommendation, those appeals were denied last week. Further appeals remain pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The upcoming execution underscores a significant shift in Florida’s approach to capital punishment. In 2025, the state carried out a record 19 executions, overseen by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. This surpassed the previous record of eight executions set in 2014. Nationally, 47 executions were carried out in 2025, with Florida accounting for a substantial portion. Alabama, South Carolina, and Texas each followed with five executions.
Florida has already scheduled two additional executions for the coming months: Melvin Trotter, 65, is slated to die on February 24, and Billy Leon Kearse, 53, is scheduled for execution on March 3. All executions in Florida are administered via lethal injection, utilizing a combination of a sedative, a paralytic, and a drug to stop the heart, as outlined by the Department of Corrections.
