A man in Florida is scheduled to be executed this evening, a consequence stemming from a 1991 traffic stop that escalated into unimaginable violence. Billy Leon Kearse, now 53, awaits a lethal injection at Florida State Prison, his final appeals exhausted after rejection by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The events unfolded on a January night in 1991 when Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish initiated a stop for a simple traffic violation – driving the wrong way on a one-way street. The routine encounter quickly spiraled into a desperate struggle as Kearse resisted arrest and failed to produce a valid driver’s license.
During the ensuing confrontation, Kearse overpowered Officer Parrish, seizing the officer’s own service weapon. He then unleashed a barrage of fourteen shots, a horrifying act that struck Parrish nine times, with four bullets stopped by his body armor. A nearby taxi driver, hearing the chaos, bravely used the officer’s radio to summon help.
Despite the swift response, Officer Parrish succumbed to his devastating wounds at the hospital. Investigators, utilizing the license plate information Parrish had managed to relay before the attack, quickly identified Kearse’s vehicle and located his residence, leading to a swift arrest.
Kearse was initially sentenced to death in 1991, but the Florida Supreme Court later found fault with the jury instructions regarding aggravating circumstances, necessitating a new sentencing hearing. In 1997, that hearing resulted in the same ultimate outcome: a death sentence.
This execution will be Florida’s third of 2026, following a starkly high number of nineteen executions in 2025. Governor Ron DeSantis signed more death warrants last year than any Florida governor in nearly five decades, a significant increase in capital punishment cases.
Last week, Kearse’s attorneys made a final plea to the Florida Supreme Court, arguing that he was denied a fair penalty phase and that his intellectual disability should have disqualified him from execution. These arguments were denied, and the U.S. Supreme Court offered no comment in rejecting his final appeal.
The state’s schedule of executions doesn’t end with Kearse. Michael Lee King is slated for execution on March 17th, and James Aren Duckett, a former police officer himself, faces execution on March 31st. Duckett’s case is particularly chilling.
In 1987, Duckett was convicted of the horrific rape and murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee. The young girl was last seen entering his patrol car outside a convenience store while he was employed by the Mascotte Police Department. Her body was later discovered in a nearby lake, bearing the brutal marks of sexual assault, strangulation, and drowning.
Last year, a total of 47 executions were carried out across the United States, with Florida leading the nation in the number of capital punishments performed, surpassing even states historically known for their use of the death penalty like Texas, South Carolina, and Alabama.
