{"id":175636,"date":"2026-03-02T23:22:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T23:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/175636\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T23:22:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T23:22:07","slug":"florida-leads-nation-in-both-executions-and-death-row-exonerations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/175636\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida leads nation in both executions and death row exonerations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Florida carried out 19 executions in 2025<\/a>, surpassing Texas, Alabama and South Carolina combined, and more than doubling the state’s previous record. <\/p>\n

The unprecedented pace is drawing sharp reactions.<\/p>\n

WATCH: Florida leads nation in executions <\/p>\n

Florida leads nation in both executions and death row exonerations<\/p>\n

Billy Leon Kearse has been on Florida’s death row for 35 years. He was convicted of murdering Fort Pierce Police Sergeant Danny Parrish<\/a> in 1991, when Kearse was 18 years old. <\/p>\n

Susan Kaspari, a friend of Kearse’s, said she traveled to Florida after his death warrant was signed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Once his death warrant was signed, we were just really devastated by that. And so I returned to Florida last week and was able to spend two days with him,” Kaspari said.<\/p>\n

Kaspari described Kearse as a changed man.<\/p>\n

“He’s not the person that he was. You know, he’s barely 18 when this crime occurred, and he, during that time, has developed a very deep faith.” Kaspari said.<\/p>\n

Cases like Kearse’s take decades to resolve \u2014 and carry an enormous price tag for Florida taxpayers. Each execution costs an estimated $24 million. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

WPTV Investigates<\/p>\n

After 35 years and 17 appeals, killer of Fort Pierce officer to be executed <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Defense attorney Daniel Eisenger said the expense reflects the complexity of the legal process.<\/p>\n

“The litigation that goes on, the work that has to happen [in] a courtroom that’s all very, very expensive,” Eisenger said.<\/p>\n

Grace Hanna, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, says the system repeatedly failed Kearse. <\/p>\n

“This was a crime that could have been warded off through better social services, better access to education, better health care, better community resources in decades before,” Hanna said. <\/p>\n

Florida also leads the nation in death row exonerations. This means 30 people sentenced to death in Florida have since been cleared, found innocent and freed.<\/p>\n

“That’s an alarming number to me. Thirty is a lot. That’s 30 innocent people who were either sentenced to be executed or sentenced to death who should not have been?” Eisenger said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

WPTV Investigates<\/p>\n

Florida shatters state execution records in 2025 amid growing controversy<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

There are growing concerns about how Florida is carrying out executions. Court filings allege the use of expired drugs, incorrect dosages and in at least one case, a drug injected into soft tissue instead of a vein.<\/p>\n

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that she was “deeply troubled” by the allegations.<\/p>\n

Eisenger noted that Florida law offers no alternative for those convicted of first-degree murder.<\/p>\n

“In Florida, life means life. There is no parole. There is no release for someone who’s convicted and first-degree murder,” Eisenger said.<\/p>\n

Governor Ron DeSantis has said he is “doing his part to deliver justice to victims’ families.” In Kearse’s case, Sergeant Parrish’s widow has waited 35 years.<\/p>\n

Two more executions are already scheduled this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida carried out 19 executions in 2025, surpassing Texas, Alabama and South Carolina combined, and more than doubling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[67182,408,28,83099,30,29],"class_list":["post-175636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-billy-leon-kearse","tag-death-penalty","tag-florida","tag-florida-executions","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175636","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=175636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}