In his final moments, convicted killer Ronald Palmer Heath offered a simple, haunting farewell: “I’m sorry. That’s all I can say. Thank you.” Minutes later, at 6:12 pm on Tuesday, he was pronounced dead at Florida State Prison.
Heath, 64, lay strapped to a gurney as a lethal cocktail of drugs was administered. He displayed little visible reaction, his eyes closing as if drifting to sleep before stillness claimed him. This execution marked Florida’s first of the year, following a staggering record of nineteen in the previous year.
The sentence stemmed from the 1989 murder of traveling salesman Michael Sheridan. Court documents reveal Heath and his brother, Kenneth, met Sheridan at a Gainesville bar, initially sharing a casual evening of socializing. They soon sought a place to smoke marijuana, a seemingly innocuous request that masked a sinister intent.
On a desolate dirt road, the encounter took a dark turn. Kenneth Heath brandished a gun, demanding money. When Sheridan refused, he was shot in the chest. Even as Sheridan emptied his pockets, still clinging to life, Ronald Heath joined the assault, kicking and stabbing him with a hunting knife.
Kenneth then fired two more shots into Sheridan’s head, ending his life. The brothers callously abandoned the body in nearby woods before returning to Gainesville. Their attempt to erase the crime was short-lived, however.
Returning to the bar, they brazenly rifled through and robbed Sheridan’s rental car. This act of callousness quickly unraveled their plan. A trail of purchases made with Sheridan’s credit cards provided a clear path for investigators to follow, meticulously reconstructing the brothers’ movements after the murder.
Ronald Heath was convicted of first-degree murder, armed robbery, and forgery, receiving a death sentence. His brother, Kenneth, navigated a different legal path, striking a plea deal to testify against Ronald in exchange for a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 25 years – a possibility that now exists.
Advocates with Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty maintained Heath’s innocence, arguing the sentence was a grave injustice. They pointed to the disparity in sentencing, noting that Kenneth, the acknowledged shooter, could one day be released while Ronald would remain buried.
However, court records portray Ronald as the instigator of the robbery and the one who encouraged his brother to use deadly force. Jurors, after considering the evidence of planning and brutal violence, found him guilty of first-degree murder, a verdict upheld through decades of appeals.
Florida’s 2025 saw an unprecedented nineteen executions, shattering the previous record of eight set in 2014. Governor Ron DeSantis oversaw more executions than any Florida governor since the death penalty’s reinstatement in 1976.
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty condemned the surge in executions as a “politicized, frantic, and disproportionate” spree. Two more executions are already scheduled: Melvin Trotter on February 24th, and Billy Leon Kearse a week later on March 3rd.
