Overview
- Ronald Palmer Heath, 64, was executed by a three-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison and pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. ET.
- Heath was condemned for the 1989 Gainesville murder of traveling salesman Michael Sheridan, while his brother Kenneth pleaded guilty and received a life sentence.
- State and U.S. courts rejected Heath’s final appeals, which challenged lethal-injection practices, clemency secrecy, the effects of prior juvenile incarceration and the jury’s recommendation.
- Members of Sheridan’s family witnessed the execution, and Heath’s final words were reported as, “I’m sorry. That’s all I can say.”
- The execution is Florida’s first of 2026 after a record 19 last year, with additional death warrants already scheduled in the weeks ahead.