Man convicted for killing Fort Pierce police officer seeks to pause execution

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (CBS12) — The man who is facing a death sentence after he was convicted of killing a Fort Pierce Police officer is asking for the Florida courts to pause his execution.

In a Tuesday appeal filed within the Supreme Court of Florida, Billy Kearse‘s defense team argued that there were serious unresolved constitutional issues. In his appeal, Kearse challenges his death sentence citing that his fifth, sixth, eighth and Fourteenth amendments were violated.

Kearse argues that a juror in his trial was “improperly influenced by external factors” when sentencing him to death due to a social media post that was made. The appeal says it could violate the Sixth and Fourteenth amendments.

Kearse’s defense in the appeal also claims that he is intellectually disabled. The appeal cites that individuals with intellectual disabilities are prohibited from being executed under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, but the lower court denied the claim. Kearse’s defense argues that there were factual disputes regarding IQ and functioning.

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His legal team argued that Kearse is entitled to a full evidentiary hearing and the chance to present expert evidence.

Kearse’s team also points to the unusually short time between the signing of his execution warrant and the scheduled execution — just 33 days. They say this brief window is insufficient for complex constitutional litigation and note that Florida courts have previously granted stays in similar cases.

Finally, his attorneys cite extraordinary circumstances affecting his legal team. Lead counsel was unavailable after the death of his father, which required requesting extensions and created significant time constraints. They argue that in any other case, a continuance would be granted, and that these circumstances support a stay to ensure Kearse receives a fair legal process.

In January, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant for Kearse, 53. He is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection on March 3. Kearse was convicted in the Jan. 18, 1991, shooting death of police officer Danny Parrish, who had stopped Kearse’s vehicle because it was traveling the wrong way on a one-way street, according to a document from Attorney General James Uthmeier included in Thursday’s Florida Supreme Court filings.