{"id":170393,"date":"2026-02-26T19:02:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T19:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/170393\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T19:02:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T19:02:06","slug":"man-convicted-of-killing-fort-pierce-police-officer-set-to-be-executed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/170393\/","title":{"rendered":"Man convicted of killing Fort Pierce police officer set to be executed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">Billy Leon Kearse is set to be executed Tuesday for the 1991 murder of Fort Pierce Police Sgt. Danny Parrish. He would be Florida\u2019s 21st execution in just over a year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Parrish was 29 years old when he was killed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">I will be witnessing the execution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Our team of journalists covered this case 35 years ago and has followed it ever since \u2014 including the years Parrish\u2019s widow spent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wptv.com\/news\/region-st-lucie-county\/fort-pierce\/widow-of-police-officer-fights-for-memorial-for-sgt-danny-parrish\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">fighting for justice<\/a> through decades of appeals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">In the days leading up to the execution, I have been digging back into the case \u2014 hearing from Parrish\u2019s loved ones and friends, reviewing the appeals process, and examining Florida\u2019s accelerated use of the death penalty.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">My full report on the case airs Monday. Execution coverage follows Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">We will bring you every side of this story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Read more of WPTV\u2019s coverage below:<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Fort Pierce<\/p>\n<p>Widow fights for memorial for fallen Fort Pierce police officer<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Fort Pierce<\/p>\n<p>Widow of Fort Pierce police officer describes decades-long wait for justice <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Fort Pierce<\/p>\n<p>Widow of slain sergeant pleased that park will be named after husband<\/p>\n<p class=\"copyright |\">Copyright 2026 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Billy Leon Kearse is set to be executed Tuesday for the 1991 murder of Fort Pierce Police Sgt.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-170393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170393","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=170393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}