Imminent execution of ‘Ronnie’ Heath

Appeal for clemency in Florida

January 2026

Florida plans to execute Ronald “Ronnie” Heath on February 10, despite overwhelming evidence that execution would serve no purpose of justice, fairness, or accountability. Ronnie has spent nearly 35 years on death row for the murder of Michael Sheridan, a devastating crime that ended a human life and caused immeasurable harm to the people who loved him. Nothing in this request diminishes that loss or the gravity of the violence that occurred.

Ronnie has endured decades of incarceration, survived extreme trauma, and demonstrated profound growth and change. Meanwhile, his equally culpable co-defendant — his own brother — is alive, incarcerated, and now eligible for parole. Clemency exists for cases exactly like this: when punishment has become disproportionate, when juries never heard critical life-shaping evidence, when modern science changes how we understand culpability, and when execution would only compound harm rather than serve justice.

The Governor and Florida’s Clemency Board have the power and the responsibility to stop this execution. Your letter can help make that difference.

The above text by Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. The petition to sign can be accessed from this link.

FADP is a Florida-based, state-wide organization working to end the death penalty in Florida. Their network includes dozens of state and local groups and thousands of individual Floridians, including murder victims’ family members and other survivors of violent crime, law enforcement professionals, families of the incarcerated, and death row exonerees. 

Amnesty is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances. It is not a deterrent and mistakes, which are not infrequent, cannot afterwards be rectified. We deprecate what appears to be the Florida state governor, Ron DeSantis using the penalty to demonstrate he is ‘tough on crime’ as part of his alleged desire to be the next president of the USA.

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