A Florida man who prosecutors say wrestled a police officer’s service weapon away during a 1991 traffic stop and fatally shot him was executed Tuesday evening after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeals.

Billy Leon Kearse, 53, is set to receive a three-drug lethal injection beginning at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke.

Kearse was sentenced to death in 1991 after being convicted of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm. The Florida Supreme Court later ruled that jurors were not properly instructed on aggravating circumstances and ordered a new sentencing hearing. He was resentenced to death in 1997.

Kearse’s execution would mark the state’s third in 2026, following a record 19 executions in 2025.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed more death warrants last year than any Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Before that, the highest number in a single year was eight in 1984 and 2014 under governors Bob Graham and Rick Scott, respectively.

Court records show Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish stopped Kearse in January 1991 for driving the wrong way on a one-way street. After Kearse failed to produce a valid driver’s license and resisted being handcuffed, a struggle broke out.

During the confrontation, Kearse grabbed Parrish’s firearm and fired 14 shots, striking the officer nine times and hitting his body armor four times, prosecutors said. A nearby taxi driver heard the gunfire and used Parrish’s radio to call for help.

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Parrish was taken to a hospital, where he died from his wounds.

Investigators used license plate information Parrish had radioed in before the struggle to identify Kearse’s vehicle and home address. He was arrested shortly afterward.

Last week, the Florida Supreme Court denied Kearse’s appeals, in which his attorneys argued he was deprived of a fair penalty phase and that his intellectual disability made him ineligible for execution. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeal Tuesday without comment.

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A total of 47 people were executed in the U.S. last year. Florida carried out the most, outpacing Texas, South Carolina and Alabama, which each conducted five executions.

Two more executions are scheduled in Florida this month. Michael Lee King, 54, is set to be executed March 17. James Aren Duckett, 68, is scheduled for March 31.

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Duckett, a former police officer, was convicted in 1987 of raping and murdering 11-year-old Teresa McAbee. At the time, he was working for the Mascotte Police Department when McAbee was last seen getting into his patrol car outside a convenience store. Her body was later found less than a mile away in a lake. Authorities said she had been sexually battered, strangled and drowned.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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A North Carolina man accused of stabbing another individual in broad daylight has faced more than 18 criminal charges over the past decade, including assault-related cases and a domestic-violence conviction, before the latest violent incident, court records show.

Micah Emmanuel Ragin, 31, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury after a Feb. 28 altercation in east Charlotte.

According to police, officers responded to a 911 call reporting an assault involving a knife. When they arrived, they found a man with a stab wound to a knee. Investigators say the suspect discarded a bag and the knife into a nearby creek and then boarded a city bus as it left the area.

Authorities later located the bus and identified Ragin as the suspect after reviewing transit security footage. Officers recovered a kitchen knife from the creek in the area shown on video. During an interview, police said Ragin admitted to being involved in a physical altercation but did not acknowledge the stabbing.

A review of North Carolina court records shows Ragin’s interactions with law enforcement date back to at least 2015 and span multiple counties.

In 2016, he pleaded guilty to violating a domestic violence protective order, receiving a 24-day jail sentence and a court-ordered no-contact condition.

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In prior years, he was charged in separate cases with assault on a female, assault on a campus police officer, communicating threats and resisting a public officer. Several of those cases were ultimately dismissed, including multiple charges in 2019 that court records state were “unable to prosecute due to COVID-19 court closures.”

Records also show misdemeanor drug and trespass convictions.

Altogether, court records indicate Ragin has faced more than 18 charges in several counties over multiple years before the current felony accusation.

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The alleged stabbing comes months after the fatal killing of a young woman aboard a Charlotte light rail train, a case that drew national attention and intensified debate over repeat offenders and pandemic-era criminal justice policies.

That earlier case involved a defendant who was under state supervision at the time of the attack and prompted scrutiny of a 2021 COVID-era prison settlement negotiated during former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration. The agreement authorized the early release or transition of approximately 3,500 incarcerated individuals. Republican officials claimed the agreement released dangerous offenders, while state officials have said the settlement primarily targeted medically vulnerable and nonviolent inmates. 

State corrections officials have also said the light rail defendant was not released early as a result of that settlement and had completed his mandatory minimum sentence, though his name appeared on a settlement-related list due to retroactive eligibility criteria.

Republican officials have argued the cases reflect broader concerns about repeat offenders cycling through the system, while Democrats have defended pandemic-era decisions as necessary public health measures.

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“Micah Ragin was arrested and let back onto the streets 18 times too many — including under then-Governor Roy Cooper’s COVID mass inmate release,” Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., said in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

“Have Charlotte’s pro-crime Democrats learned nothing from Iryna’s tragic murder? How many victims will it take to finally keep criminals behind bars? The Queen City has been stained by crimes that are preventable — they are lucky this wasn’t the next Iryna Zarutska.”

Nick Puglia, regional press secretary for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, echoed similar criticism.

“Yet again, Roy Cooper’s soft-on-crime policies allowed a violent career criminal to roam free, resulting in a vicious attack. Cooper coddles criminals and North Carolinians pay the price,” Puglia said.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley criticized what he described as “soft-on-crime” policies.

“Criminals belong behind bars. As a senator, I will always back the blue and fight to keep our communities safe,” Whatley said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Cooper, who previously served two terms as North Carolina’s governor and is now running for the U.S. Senate, has defended his record on public safety and pushed back on Republican criticism.

“Violence of any kind is unacceptable, and we must keep North Carolinians safe,” a spokesperson for Cooper’s campaign said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “These Republican attacks are false – Roy Cooper is the only candidate who spent his career prosecuting violent criminals and keeping thousands of them behind bars as attorney general, and signing tough-on-crime laws and stricter pretrial release bail policy as governor.”

Cooper’s campaign has previously defended pandemic-era decisions as necessary public health measures and has denied that COVID-related policies led to the early release of dangerous offenders.

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Ragin’s felony case is pending, and officials have not announced a trial date.

Stepheny Price covers crime, including missing persons, homicides and migrant crime. Send story tips to stepheny.price@fox.com.

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A Florida mother killed her two children inside their upscale Lakewood Ranch home before taking her own life in what authorities ruled was a double homicide-suicide.

Deputies with the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office responded to a welfare check at the home and discovered three people dead inside. Detectives with the Manatee Homicide Investigation Unit later concluded the children were killed by their mother before she took her own life.

Authorities said there is no evidence anyone else was involved, and there is no threat to the community.

The victims were identified by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune as Monika Rubacha, 44, and her children, Josh James, 14, and Emma James, 11.

Officials described encountering what appeared to be a “violent murder scene” when deputies entered the home.

The case remains active as detectives continue reviewing evidence. The medical examiner will determine the official cause and manner of the deaths.

According to the Herald-Tribune, Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Randy Warren said preliminary findings suggest Josh James may have died earlier than his sister and mother as investigators work to establish a precise timeline.

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The outlet also reported that authorities believe there was some level of planning involved and that the mother “knew what she was doing,” citing Warren.

“This is unimaginable that two children were killed inside their home by a parent, and then she took her own life,” Warren told FOX 13.

Warren also told the station that deputies had never previously responded to the home since the family moved there from Missouri about three years ago.

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“There’s really nothing there that would have indicated this would have happened,” said Warren. 

The children’s father was traveling in South America at the time of the killings and returned to Florida after being notified, authorities said, calling it “an incredible emotional day for him,” according to FOX 13.

Neighbors described shock rippling through the gated community.

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“It’s a total surprise and shock. This neighborhood is so quiet,” Paul Henne, a resident of The Lake Club, told FOX 13.

“It’s a family community with small kids. It really hits you hard when you hear about that stuff happening.”

The Lake Club at Lakewood Ranch, the gated community where the family lived, said in a statement to FOX 13 it is aware of the tragedy and that its “hearts are with the family and all those affected during this incredibly difficult time.”

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A motive has not been released. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office for comment. 

Stepheny Price covers crime, including missing persons, homicides and migrant crime. Send story tips to stepheny.price@fox.com.

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