US EditionFlorida man who wrestled cop's gun away and killed him to be executed after final appeals rejected
Kearse was executed after 35 years following rejected appeals about mental incapacity amid Florida's record 19 executions in 2025, the state's highest single-year total.
- On Tuesday, March 3, Billy Leon Kearse was executed by lethal injection for the 1991 murder of Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish, pronounced dead at 6:24 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke.
- During a January 1991 traffic stop, Parrish pulled Kearse over for driving the wrong way on a one-way street, and after Kearse couldn’t produce a valid license, a struggle led him to fire 14 times, hitting Parrish nine times and his body armor four times.
- Kearse's legal team argued his intellectual disability made him ineligible for execution, but the Florida Supreme Court denied appeals last week and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeal hours before the execution.
- The move continues a state policy that yielded 5 executions in 2025, with Florida's aggressive pace after signing numerous death warrants.
- Mirtha Busbin, widow of Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish, planned to witness the execution and said, `We never got a chance to really explore life`, while the community memorializes Parrish with a statue and park.
31 Articles
31 Articles
Florida is one of the US states where most people are executed. Also this year there have been five executions. Now a convicted murderer gets his sentence.
Billy Kearse, who was sentenced to death for the murder of a police officer, was executed in Florida.
Florida Executes Man Who Killed Cop With His Own Gun
A man convicted of fatally shooting a police officer with his own service weapon during a traffic stop was executed Tuesday evening in Florida, becoming the third person put to death by the state this year after a record 19 executions in 2025. Billy Leon Kearse, 53, was pronounced dead...
Man who killed police officer with his service revolver executed in Florida
Billy Leon Kearse, 53, was pronounced dead at 6:24 p.m. following a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was condemned for the 1991 shooting death of Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish
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