Heath’s scheduled death follows a year in which Florida accounted for more than a third of the 47 lethal injections carried out across the United States in 2025. His attorneys are expected to file appeals to the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant Friday for Ronald Palmer Heath, 64, scheduling a lethal injection for Feb. 10 at Florida State Prison. Heath would be Florida’s first execution of 2026.
DeSantis, a Republican, oversaw 19 executions in 2025 — more than any Florida governor in a single year since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1976, according to court records. The previous single-year record was eight executions, set in 2014.
Heath’s scheduled execution follows a year in which Florida accounted for more than a third of the 47 lethal injections carried out across the United States in 2025. His attorneys are expected to file appeals to the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court, according to the Associated Press.
The 1989 crime
Heath was convicted in 1990 of first-degree murder, robbery with a death weapon, and multiple forgery charges in connection with the killing of traveling salesman Michael Sheridan.
According to court records, Heath and his brother, Kenneth Heath, met Sheridan at a Gainesville bar in May 1989. The three agreed to go somewhere else to smoke marijuana. At some point, the brothers plotted to rob Sheridan, investigators said.
Ronald Heath drove the group to a remote area, where Kenneth Heath pulled a handgun on Sheridan. Sheridan initially refused to give the brothers anything, and Kenneth Heath shot him in the chest, according to court records.
As Sheridan emptied his pockets, Ronald Heath kicked and stabbed him with a hunting knife, prosecutors said. Kenneth Heath then shot Sheridan twice in the head.
The brothers dumped Sheridan’s body in a wooded area and returned to the Gainesville bar, where they took items from his rental car, court records show. The next day, they made multiple purchases with Sheridan’s credit cards at a Gainesville mall.
Arrest and conviction
Ronald Heath was arrested several weeks later at his home in Douglas, Georgia, after investigators connected him to the stolen credit cards, according to court records. Officers recovered clothing purchased with the stolen cards, as well as Sheridan’s watch.
Kenneth Heath was also charged with Sheridan’s murder. He was sentenced to life in prison as part of a plea agreement.
Florida’s pace of executions
Florida’s final execution of 2025 was the Dec. 18 lethal injection of Frank Athen Walls, who was convicted of fatally shooting a man and his girlfriend during a home invasion robbery.
DeSantis’s 19 executions in 2025 surpassed the prior Florida record of eight, set a decade earlier, according to the AP. Nationwide, 47 people were executed in 2025, with Florida leading all states.