Billy Leon Kearse, 53, was put to death by lethal injection Tuesday evening at Florida State Prison for the 1991 killing of Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish.
Kearse was pronounced dead at 6:24 p.m., by the state Department of Corrections. He is the third inmate put to death this year and the first of three executions scheduled for this month.
Last Wednesday, the Florida Supreme Court backed the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit Court in St. Lucie County in denying Kearse’ latest motion to stay his execution.
On Nov. 8, 1991, Parrish stopped Kearse, 18 at the time, for driving the wrong way on a one-way street, according to Florida Supreme Court documents. After Kearse failed to produce a driver’s license and gave false names, Parrish ordered him to exit the car. Kearse resisted being handcuffed and grabbed Parrish’s gun. Kearse then fired fourteen shots, 13 striking Parrish, who would later die at the hospital.
A short time later, Kearse reportedly confessed after being apprehended.
Kearse was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm. Granted a new penalty phase, a jury in 1996 unanimously recommended that Kearse be sentenced to death.
The aggravating factors, according to the court records: the murder was committed during a robbery; committed to avoid arrest and hinder law enforcement; and the victim was a law enforcement officer engaging in the performance of his official duties.
After Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant on January 29, Kearse filed a motion for postconviction relief. He claimed the jury during his penalty phase proceeding was improperly influenced by the presence of uniformed law enforcement officers in the courtroom.
Kearse pointed to a quote from a juror in his second trial who wrote, “It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but there was no doubt it was the right sentence. I’ll never forget the respect and support shown to Danny in that courtroom. Every day, no matter how long the trial went, the back of the courtroom was filled with (law enforcement officers) from every city and county in the state, so much support and respect from his fellow (law enforcement officers).”
The state justices agreed with the lower court that the claim was “untimely” as state rules of criminal procedure require defendants to file any motion to vacate judgment of conviction and sentence of death within one year after their judgment and sentence becomes final.
The court also noted that “the presence of uniformed officers in the courtroom during the second penalty phase would have been readily observable. To the extent that the officers’ presence could have raised constitutional concerns, Kearse had ample opportunity to investigate any potential undue influence on the jury.”
Kearse also claimed in his latest appeal the death sentence is unconstitutional because he is intellectually disabled.
The court, also declaring the claim was “untimely,” pointed to IQ results from Kearse’ original trial and resentencing, along with a score in the eighth grade, as being “outside the intellectual disability range.” The court further noted that “at his 1996 penalty phase, Kearse’s own expert testified that although Kearse had low-level intelligence, emotional problems, learning disabilities, and brain dysfunction, he was not intellectually disabled.”
Michael King, 54, is scheduled to be executed on March 17 for the 2008 abduction, rape and murder of Denise Amber Lee, 21, in North Port.
James Aren Duckett, 68, a former Mascotte police officer convicted of the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in 1987, is to be executed on March 31.
