In an unusual gesture, the family of a murder victim in Florida presented Ron DeSantis with personalized Sharpies, aiming to expedite the execution of the convicted killer.
This move led to the February execution of Ronald Heath, 64, by lethal injection. Heath’s execution was part of a broader increase in the number of death sentences carried out under DeSantis, who is nearing the end of his tenure as Florida’s Governor.
Heath was found guilty of the 1989 murder of traveling salesman Michael Sheridan. Despite exhausting all available appeals to delay his execution, DeSantis went ahead and signed his death warrant this year.
Unlike many states, Florida grants its governor the authority to determine the execution dates for death row inmates, allowing DeSantis to wield substantial influence over these life-and-death decisions.
Under DeSantis’s administration, Florida has become known as America’s execution capital, with 19 individuals executed in 2025 alone, comprising 40 percent of all executions nationally.
The power to unilaterally set execution dates reportedly led Sheridan’s family to woo DeSantis by gifting him custom blue Sharpies, his pen of choice for signing legislation and death warrants, reports the New York Times.
The gambit worked, as DeSantis promptly fast-tracked Heath’s death warrant and he became the first inmate to be executed in Florida this year.
Insiders said the move was indicative of DeSantis’s strong support for the death penalty in a legacy move as he readies to leave office, when he is term-limited in January 2027. They’ve speculated that he wants to be the next US Attorney General, with President Donald Trump an outspoken supporter of capital punishment.
The family of a Florida murder victim gifted Ron DeSantis personalized sharpies for signing death warrants in an attempt to get him to fast-track the killer’s execution, reports say
The family of traveling salesman Michael Sheridan, who was murdered in 1989, gave DeSantis the personalized gift to woo him into signing the death warrant for Sheridan’s killer
Sheridan’s killer, Ronald Heath, was executed in February aged 64 after DeSantis reportedly fast-tracked his death penalty using the power of the Florida Governor’s office
The total of 19 executions pushed forward by DeSantis in 2025 broke the state’s annual record of 11, which was set back in 1936.
DeSantis’s affinity for executions stands in stark contrast to most other governors, including many Republicans, who have walked back the death penalty across the nation.
At least 33 states have either not carried out an execution in at least a decade or abolished the practice entirely, with the number of people sentenced to death also dropping sharply.
Compared to 1995, when 307 people were sentenced to death, just 23 people received the punishment in the US last year, per data from the Death Penalty Information Center.
Experts said DeSantis has wielded his power over executions in a freestyle-manner, with attorneys and the families of victims attempting to attract his attention – or avoid it – as cases move through the courts.
The length of time an inmate has spent on death row does not appear to play a role in DeSantis’s decisions, the Times noted, leaving many to try and gauge how the governor will choose the next inmate to be executed.
‘He could be deciding who is next to die by throwing darts at a list of names, or spinning a roulette wheel,’ Maria DeLiberato, an attorney with the ACLU’s Capital Punishment Project, told the Times.
Pictured: The death warrant DeSantis approved for Ronald Heath, signed in blue Sharpie
Executions in Florida are carried out at Florida State Prison (FSP) in Raiford, Florida
The surge in executions in Florida comes amid scrutiny on the death penalty practices across the nation, with a number of lethal injections going wrong in recent years due to complications with the cocktail of drugs used.
In 2022, this led the execution of killer Joe Nathan James to become the longest in US history, as he endured an agonizing three-hour ordeal while strapped to a gurney before eventually dying.
Following the execution of Heath in February, the next inmate put to death in Florida, Billy Kearse, took twice as long as usual, allegedly due to the same issues.
Attorneys for another Florida death row inmate, Chadwick Willacy, requested records about the state’s execution practices to prove this, and just one week later DeSantis signed Willacy’s death warrant.
The surge in executions in Florida comes amid scrutiny on the death penalty practices across the nation, with the execution of Joe Nathan James (pictured) becoming the longest in US history in 2022 due to issues with the lethal injection drugs
Following the execution of Heath in February, the next inmate put to death in Florida, Billy Kearse, took twice as long as usual, allegedly due to issues with lethal injection drugs
The example has reportedly added to fears that moves they make in court, including filing appeals or legal challenges, could draw DeSantis’s attention and lead him to fast-track certain inmates.
In the face of some criticisms over his urgency to execute Florida’s killers, DeSantis defended the practice, and said meeting with victims’ families convinced him of the importance to do so.
‘There’s a saying: Justice delayed is justice denied,’ DeSantis told the Times.
‘We’re doing it to be able to bring justice to the victims’ families.’
DeSantis’s head of communications, Alex Lanfranconi, added: ‘My advice to those who are seeking to avoid the death penalty in Florida would be to not murder people.’
The Daily Mail has contacted DeSantis’s office for comment.