The state of Florida executed 64-year-old Ronald Heath at 6:12 p.m. on Tuesday for the 1989 murder of a traveling salesman, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.
Heath met his victim, Michael Sheridan, at what is now MacDinton’s Irish Pub, a popular bar near UF’s main campus in Gainesville. At the time, the location operated as the Purple Porpoise Lounge, which closed in 2002.
The murder occurred just a few months after Ronald was released for a murder he committed at age 16. Ronald was convicted of first-degree murder, armed robbery and forgery and sentenced to death in 1990.
According to witnesses, Ronald’s last words were: “I’m sorry. That’s all I have to say. Thank you.”
He was the first person to be executed in Florida in 2026, following a record-setting year in which the state carried out 19 executions.
The crimes
In 1977, Ronald, then 16, killed 18-year-old Michael Green in Jacksonville. Ronald was sentenced to 30 years in prison but was released after 10 years, a decision Green’s family has long criticized.
“My brother, Mike, was a beautiful, loving person,” said Green’s sister, Rhonda Green, at a press briefing following Tuesday’s execution. “My family has waited over 48 years for any form of real justice for my brother’s brutal murder.”
On May 24, 1989, less than six months after his release, Ronald and his younger brother, Kenneth Heath, drove to Gainesville and visited the Purple Porpoise Lounge, where two of Ronald’s friends worked as waitresses, according to court documents.
There, they met Sheridan, a 30-year-old traveling salesman, who struck up a conversation with the brothers and bought them drinks.
At Ronald’s suggestion, the brothers decided to take Sheridan elsewhere and rob him. They drove Sheridan to “an isolated area of Alachua County,” parking on a dirt road to smoke marijuana.
According to court documents, Kenneth took out a handgun and announced the robbery. When Sheridan resisted, Ronald told his brother to shoot him.
Kenneth shot Sheridan in the chest. As Sheridan attempted to comply, Ronald stabbed him in the neck, and Kenneth later shot him twice in the head.
A medical examiner examined Sheridan’s body and determined he died from multiple gunshot wounds and a sharp-force injury to the neck.
The brothers returned to the bar and later burned Sheridan’s rental car in a remote area. They used his credit cards to make purchases at a Gainesville mall the following day.
The brothers disposed of the gun, which was never recovered, into the St. Johns River after returning to Jacksonville.
Two days after Sheridan’s murder, Ronald allegedly robbed and killed Anthony Hammett, although the case never went to trial.
The punishment
Kenneth was arrested and entered a plea, agreeing to testify against his brother. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with eligibility for parole after 25 years.
Ronald was arrested at his home in Georgia a few weeks after the brothers used Sheridan’s stolen credit cards in Gainesville.
Ronald went to trial in November 1990. Prosecutors presented evidence including items purchased with Sheridan’s credit cards and testimony from Kenneth.
His former cellmate, Wayburn Williams, testified Ronald told him he had plans to escape and kill two girls who could tie him to the murder.
The court found two aggravating circumstances supporting a death sentence: the murder was committed during a robbery, and he had a prior murder conviction.
Defense attorneys cited mitigating factors, including Ronald Heath’s substance use at the time of the crime, his good behavior in prison and the disparity between his sentence and his brother’s.
The court concluded Kenneth acted under Ronald’s domination, and the aggravating factors outweighed mitigation.
Ten of the 12 jurors recommended a death sentence.
Heath filed several post-conviction appeals, including claims that Florida's legal injection protocol violated the Eighth Amendment. The Florida Supreme Court denied his final appeals on Feb. 3.
The day of the execution
Around 60 protesters gathered outside Florida State Prison on Tuesday evening, a larger crowd than is typical for executions. Joe Lakers, an Iowa resident, came to protest Heath’s execution with the Our Lady of Lourdes church from Daytona Beach.
“The state should not kill people,” he said as another protester sang “Amazing Grace” in the background. “There are other ways to punish people.”
Miriam Welly Elliott, coordinator of Gainesville Citizens for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, has been protesting Florida’s death penalty since the 1980s.
“We’re robbing people of an opportunity to be truly remorseful,” she said. “I just don’t think Jesus would support this.”
At 6 p.m., the scheduled time of execution, the protesters, one by one, hit a bell plastered with anti-death penalty messages. Meanwhile across the lawn, four people stood in an area designated for execution supporters — a difference from the usual one-man support.
Bill Campbell has driven to the prison from Marion County for almost every execution in the past year. He doesn’t pay attention to the details of the murders anymore because “they’re all the same,” he said.
Inside the prison, family members of the three victims believed to have been murdered by Ronald witnessed the execution. Following the execution, Michael Sheridan’s brother, Thomas Sheridan, spoke for more than 15 minutes at a press briefing.
He first thanked Gov. Ron DeSantis for “making this day happen,” saying his brother, Michael, never deserved what happened to him.
“Three beautiful young men's lives were snuffed out,” he said. “Ronald Heath can accurately be described as a serial killer.”
Kimberly Reeves, Anthony Hammett’s sister, also spoke at the press conference. Reeves said she hopes Heath was at peace when he died.
“Ronald has had appeal after appeal after appeal,” she said. “None of our brothers were ever able to appeal for their lives.”
Contact Alexa Ryan at aryan@alligator.org. Follow her on X @AlexaRyan_.
Alexa is a second-year journalism and international studies student and The Alligator's Spring 2026 Enterprise Politics Reporter. She previously served as the Fall 2025 Criminal Justice Reporter. In her free time, she enjoys running, traveling and going on random side quests.
