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<\/a><\/p>\nThe families of the men Ronald Heath was blamed for killing were at the prison in north-central Florida for the execution. Sheridan\u2019s five brothers and one of his sisters attended the execution, along with five of Sheridan\u2019s nephews.<\/p>\n
Thomas Sheridan, one of his brothers, thanked Gov. Ron DeSantis for signing the death warrant.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aToday\u2019s outcome is the culmination of polite, patience, dogged determination, and keeping hope alive for justice to be served,\u201d\u00a0he said.<\/p>\n
Sheridan\u2019s family had campaigned for the Governor\u2019s office to pursue justice for their brother, and Thomas Sheridan criticized people who advocated against the death penalty for Ronald Heath. He said those efforts cheapened the lives of Ronald Heath\u2019s victims.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aA final thank you for ordering the Ronald Palmer cocktail on Jan. 9 for tonight\u2019s service,\u201d Thomas Sheridan said. \u201c\u200aGovernor, as we agreed, that goes on my bar tab.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Duval County Court records, Ronald Heath shot and killed Anthony Hammetti in Jacksonville just days after Sheridan\u2019s murder. Kimberly Reeves, his sister, said Ronald Heath losing his life doesn\u2019t \u201cchange the facts\u201d or bring her brother back. She still mourns and dreams of her brother, but she doesn\u2019t delight in the death penalty, and she said she hopes Ronald Heath is at peace.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aRonald has had appeal, after appeal, after appeal,\u201d\u00a0she said.\u00a0\u201cNone of our brothers were ever able to appeal for their lives. Not once.\u201d<\/p>\n Rhonda Green, the sister of Ronald Heath\u2019s first victim, Michael Green, said that though Ronald Heath\u2019s execution didn\u2019t bring her happiness, it was a necessary form of justice. Michael Green was funny, outgoing and loved to fish, she said. It\u2019s horrendous, it took so long for justice, she said.<\/p>\n More than 50 people from the Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and Death Penalty Action came to protest Ronald Heath\u2019s execution. \u201cRonnie was put to death for a murder he did not commit,\u201d the group said in a statement late Tuesday. \u201cThe undisputed trigger man in that crime, Ronnie\u2019s brother Kenneth, received a life sentence with the possibility of parole.\u201d<\/p>\n His most recent legal appeals for leniency focused on whether Florida administers lethal injections properly and whether it would cause him needless suffering. He proposed dying by firing squad. Courts rejected his claims.<\/p>\n \u201cIn matters of murder and robbery, Ronald shows no weaknesses,\u201d the trial judge, Robert Cates, wrote in 1990.<\/p>\n Ronald Heath\u2019s death followed the executions of 19 prisoners in Florida last year, by far the most in the United States.<\/p>\n The jury found that Ronald Heath controlled and dominated Kenneth Heath into shooting Sheridan, leading to the death penalty.<\/p>\n This is how the crime unfolded, according to trial transcripts and court records:<\/p>\n Michael Sheridan, a traveling salesman, struck up a conversation with Ronald and Kenneth Heath at the Purple Porpoise, a dive bar, while on a trip in Gainesville. He bought them drinks and introduced himself as from out of town, and he asked if they knew how to get \u201cGainesville Green,\u201d or marijuana.<\/p>\n The brothers had a history of legal trouble \u2014 Ronald Heath was sentenced to 30 years<\/a>\u00a0in jail at 16 years old for second-degree murder, when he was convicted of repeatedly stabbing a man he said made unwanted sexual advances on him. He ultimately beat the man, Michael Green, to death with a log.<\/p>\n Kenneth Heath had several burglary convictions and was released from jail three months earlier.<\/p>\n Ronald Heath suggested to his brother that they rob Sheridan. After less than an hour of conversation, Sheridan left with the brothers, despite hesitating because of an early meeting the next day.<\/p>\n When they stopped at a dead-end surrounded by woods, the group stopped to smoke marijuana.<\/p>\n Kenneth Heath pointed a .22-caliber handgun and pointed it at Sheridan, who thought they were kidding. Sheridan lunged at him, and Kenneth Heath shot him in his chest.<\/p>\n As Sheridan began to give up his valuables, Ronald Heath kicked him and stabbed him in the neck with a hunting knife. He tried to slit Sheridan\u2019s throat, but the knife was too dull.<\/p>\n He repeatedly told Kenneth Heath to shoot him again to make sure he was dead.<\/p>\n Kenneth Heath shot him in the head twice. The first time, Sheridan looked at him and asked him what he was doing. The second time he saw \u201cthe life went out of his eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n The brothers carried Sheridan into the woods so he wouldn\u2019t be discovered right away.<\/p>\n They burned Sheridan\u2019s rental car the next day and went on a spending spree at Oaks Mall, even getting haircuts with Sheridan\u2019s credit card.<\/p>\n The court found similarities between his violent attacks on Green and Sheridan, which weighed into the jury\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n Ronald Heath marks the first execution of the year, and according to the executive director of the anti-death penalty group, Grace Hannah,\u00a0\u200aif his case is an indication,\u00a0\u201cthis year will be just as aggressive and past pace.\u201d<\/p>\n Melvin Trotter, a man convicted of murdering a woman in 1987, is set to be executed Feb. 24. Billy Leon Kearse, convicted of killing a police officer, will be executed March 3. Maria Avlonitis reports via Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. The reporter can be reached at\u00a0[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>. You can donate to support our students\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida executed its first prisoner of 2026 on Tuesday evening, a man twice convicted in separate murders 12…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[67182,73054,1039,28,18231,30,29,18637,57416,64095,57417,412,57415],"class_list":["post-151256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-billy-leon-kearse","tag-death-penalty-action","tag-duval-county","tag-florida","tag-florida-execution","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-floridians-for-alternatives-to-the-death-penalty","tag-kenneth-heath","tag-melvin-trotter","tag-michael-sheridan","tag-ron-desantis","tag-ronald-palmer-heath"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/we_protect_due_process_floridapolitics_ad-09.jpg\")
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