Raiford, Florida - A 53-year-old man was executed by lethal injection in Florida on Tuesday after his request for a stay was denied.

Billy Kearse was pronounced dead at 6:24 PM at the state prison in Raiford, the Florida Department of Corrections said.

Kearse was sentenced to death for fatally shooting the officer Danny Parrish after wrestling away his gun during a 1991 traffic stop.

"Tonight, We, the People of the State of Florida, executed Billy Leon Kearse, an intellectually disabled Black man who was just 18 years and 84 days old at the time he made the single worst decision of his life," Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty said in a statement.

FADP said Kearse had suffered "severe poverty, instability, abuse, and trauma" as a child. Despite the warning signs, he did not receive the support he needed.

"Immediately after the killing, the scared teen expressed deep regret and remorse for his impulsive actions. He has carried the weight of the harm he caused for nearly four decades," the organization wrote.

While in prison, Kearse became an artist and had several pen pals around the world. An art show displaying his creations is set to open this Friday, according to FADP.

"There was another path available. It would have held Billy accountable while recognizing his youth, his intellectual disability, and his profound capacity for growth," the group said. "It would have given Sgt. Parrish's family closure in 1991, and spared them decades of appeals and heartache. That pathwas a life sentence then. That path was clemency now. Neither path was chosen."

Kearse was the fifth person executed in the US this year and the third in Florida. The other executions were carried out in Oklahoma and Texas.

There were 47 executions in the US last year, the most since 2009, when 52 people were put to death.

Florida carried out the most executions in 2025, with 19, followed by Alabama, South Carolina, and Texas, where there were five each.

Thirty-nine of last year's executions were carried out by lethal injection.

Three were by firing squad and five by nitrogen hypoxia, which involves pumping nitrogen gas into a face mask, causing the prisoner to suffocate.

The use of nitrogen gas as a method of capital punishment has been denounced by United Nations experts as cruel and inhumane.

The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 states, while three others – California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania – have moratoriums in place.

President Donald Trump is a proponent of capital punishment and has called for an expansion of its use "for the vilest crimes."