Staff report

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Governor Ron DeSantis has authorized the execution of Ronald Palmer Heath, who was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death for the 1989 killing of Michael Sheridan, whom he encountered at the Purple Porpoise in Gainesville.

Details from the Governor’s office reveal that on the night of May 24, 1989, Ronald Heath and his brother Kenneth visited the Purple Porpoise Lounge in Gainesville. There, they struck up a conversation with Michael Sheridan, who offered to buy them a drink and inquired about their marijuana usage. Seizing the opportunity, Heath proposed to his brother that they rob Sheridan. The trio then drove to a secluded spot in Alachua County, where they smoked marijuana.

Heath mimicked a gun with his hand and asked Kenneth, “Did you get it?” In response, Kenneth retrieved a handgun from their vehicle, aimed it at Sheridan, and declared the robbery. When Sheridan refused to comply, Heath urged his brother to shoot him, resulting in a bullet to Sheridan’s chest. As Sheridan lay there, Heath kicked and stabbed him, attempting to slit his throat with a blunt knife. He resorted to sawing at Sheridan’s neck. On Heath’s insistence, Kenneth fired two more shots at Sheridan’s head to ensure his death. The brothers then hid Sheridan’s body further into the woods, relocated his rental car, and set it ablaze.

The following day, the brothers went on a shopping spree using Sheridan’s credit cards. Store clerks identified Heath during these transactions, leading to his arrest weeks later. During the investigation, authorities discovered Sheridan’s watch and several items purchased with the stolen credit cards inside Heath’s trailer in Georgia.

Heath was convicted of first-degree murder, robbery with a firearm, and sixteen forgery-related counts. At the time of the murder, Heath had only been out of prison for six months after serving ten years of a thirty-year sentence for a second-degree murder conviction from 1977 (when Heath was sixteen years old). Heath is also suspected of having committed a third murder in the Jacksonville area around the time he killed Sheridan.

The execution date has been set for Tuesday, February 10, at 6 p.m.