By MES Dispatch staff
The Briefing
• Florida executed Billy Leon Kearse, 53, Tuesday evening for fatally shooting a police officer with the officer’s service weapon during a 1991 traffic stop.
• Kearse was pronounced dead at 6:24 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke after receiving a three-drug lethal injection.
• The victim, Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish, was killed after Kearse seized his firearm during a struggle in January 1991.
• The Florida Supreme Court had ordered a new sentencing phase in the 1990s, and Kearse was resentenced to death in 1997.
• This is Florida’s third execution of 2026 following a record 19 carried out in 2025.
STARKE, FL — Florida executed Billy Leon Kearse Tuesday evening for the 1991 fatal shooting of Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish during a traffic stop, authorities said.
Kearse, 53, was pronounced dead at 6:24 p.m. after a three-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, the Florida Department of Corrections reported.
Court records show Parrish stopped Kearse in January 1991 for driving the wrong way on a one-way street, and a struggle ensued in which Kearse seized Parrish’s service weapon and fired multiple shots, killing the officer, prosecutors said.
Kearse was initially convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1991. After the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing phase for procedural reasons, he was resentenced to death in 1997 and remained on death row until Tuesday’s execution.
The execution marks Florida’s third carried out in 2026, following a record 19 in 2025, as the state continues its use of capital punishment under current law, officials said.