STARK, Fla. (AP) — A man convicted of killing a traveling salesman he and his brother met at a bar has become the first person executed in Florida this year.
Ronald Palmer Heath, 64, was pronounced dead after being injected with three drugs at 6:12 p.m. Tuesday at the Florida State Prison near Stark. Heath was convicted of first-degree murder, robbery with a deadly weapon and other charges in the 1989 slaying of Michael Sheridan.
When the curtain on the execution chamber drew back at the scheduled 6 p.m. start, Hiss was tied up and had an IV inserted into his arm. When the warden asked Heath if he had any final words, he said: “I’m sorry. That’s all I can say. Thank you.”
While taking the drug, Heath showed little outward reaction, closing his eyes and appearing to fall asleep before becoming motionless. About eight minutes after the medication was started, a doctor was called and Heath was pronounced dead two minutes later.
It was the first execution of 2026 in the state, which followed a record 19 executions in Florida last year. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis carried out more executions in 2025 than any other Florida governor in a single year since the U.S. reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Florida’s previous record was eight executions in 2014.
According to court records, Heath and his brother, Kenneth Heath, met Sheridan at a Gainesville bar in May 1989. After hanging out at the bar for a while, the three agreed to go somewhere else to smoke marijuana.
Investigators said the brothers had conspired to rob another man. Ronald Heath took the group to a remote area, where Kenneth Heath drew a pistol and pointed it at Sheridan. The man initially refused to give the brothers anything and Kenneth Heath shot Sheridan in the chest.
As Sheridan emptied his pockets, Ronald Heath began kicking the man and stabbing him with a hunting knife, prosecutors said. Kenneth Heath then shot Sheridan twice in the head.
The brothers dumped Sheridan’s body in the woods before returning to the Gainesville bar and taking items from his rental car, court records show. The brothers allegedly made multiple purchases using Sheridan’s credit card at a Gainesville mall the next day.
Ronald Heath was arrested weeks later at his home in Douglas, Georgia, and investigators linked him to the stolen credit cards. Police seized clothing purchased with the stolen card and Sheridan’s watch, according to court records.
Kenneth Heath was also charged with Sheridan’s murder but was sentenced to life in prison as part of a plea deal.
His execution was witnessed by more than a dozen family members of victims of His crimes.
When Heath was 16, he was convicted of killing teenager Michael Green and served 10 years in prison.
Days after Sheridan’s death, authorities also discovered the body of Tony Hammett. Heath was charged with Hammett’s murder, but the case never went to trial.
Sheridan’s brother, Thomas Sheridan, said at a news conference after the execution that his family, along with the families of Green and Hammett, had been waiting for this day for more than three decades.
“Tonight, Ronald Palmer Heath was released to the custody of a new parole officer. As far as I’m concerned, any forgiveness is a matter between him and God,” Thomas Sheridan said.
The Florida Supreme Court rejected Ronald Heath’s appeal last week. His attorneys argued that Florida corrections officials mismanaged their own death penalty agreement, that the state’s secretive clemency process impeded due process, that Heath’s incarceration as a teenager stunted his brain development and that jurors did not unanimously recommend the death penalty.
On Tuesday morning, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Heath’s appeal.
In 2025, a total of 47 people were executed in the United States. Florida became the first state to execute a series of death warrants signed by DeSantis. Alabama, South Carolina and Texas tied for second, with five executions each that year.
Florida has planned two more executions later this month and next month. Melvin Trotter, 65, is expected to die on February 24, and Billy Leon Kearse, 53, is scheduled to be executed a week later on March 3.
All executions in Florida are carried out by lethal injection, using sedatives, paralytics and heart-stopping drugs, according to the Department of Corrections.
