Miami, Florida: DeSantis Sets December 1 Execution for Ricardo Gonzalez in 1992 North Miami Officer Killing

MIAMI, Fla. - Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant on Friday for Ricardo Gonzalez, setting a December 1 execution date in a North Miami bank robbery that killed police officer Steven Bauer more than three decades ago.

Gonzalez, 56, has spent 32 years on Florida's death row. If the execution goes ahead as scheduled, he will be the 21st person put to death in Florida in 2026, passing the state record of 19 executions set in 2025.

The date in Raiford

Gonzalez is scheduled to die by lethal injection starting at noon on Tuesday, December 1, at Florida State Prison in Raiford, about 45 miles southwest of Jacksonville. The warrant, signed on October 30, came 11 days after Florida executed William Reaves Jr. for the 1986 murder of Deputy Richard Raczkoski. Two more executions are scheduled before the Gonzalez date: Jesse Guardado on November 5 and Thomas Overton on November 19. Florida has carried out 18 of the 32 executions in the United States so far this year, according to figures from DeathPenaltyInfo.org.

The 1992 North Miami robbery

On January 3, 1992, five men robbed the Kislak National Bank in North Miami after planning the crime over 10 days, court records show. Gonzalez and Leonardo Franqui were the only two who were armed. The group arrived early in two stolen cars so they would be first in line when the bank opened.

Bauer, 39, was a 12-year veteran of the North Miami force working an off-duty security job at the bank. He was escorting tellers Lasonya Hadley and Michelle Chin-Watson to their stations when the men confronted him. Franqui shot Bauer several times with a 9mm handgun, and Gonzalez shot him once with a .357 pistol. Investigators later determined that Gonzalez fired the bullet that killed Bauer. Gonzalez told police he had aimed low and believed he had only wounded the officer.

Pablo San Martin seized a cash tray holding $17,000, and the men fled. The stolen cars were found abandoned two blocks away. A tip from a priest who had heard Fernando Fernandez confess to the robbery broke the case, and the men were arrested within weeks. The guns were recovered from a canal near the Dolphin Expressway, and investigators found $1,200 hidden in a gym bag in Gonzalez's closet.

The verdict and the other four men

Gonzalez, a former boxer who was 21 and had no prior record, was convicted of first-degree murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault, two counts of grand theft and two counts of burglary. The jury recommended death by a vote of seven to five. His defense pointed to his childhood moving between family members, his schooling and language difficulties, his migraines, and brain damage from boxing.

Franqui was also sentenced to death and remains on death row. He received a second death sentence for the murder of Raul Lopez a month before the bank robbery. San Martin first received a death sentence that was later vacated and replaced with life in prison. Fernandez and Pablo Abreu received life sentences, and Fernandez later died in prison.

A faster pace of warrants

DeSantis has said the faster pace of death warrants is meant to bring justice to the families of victims who have waited decades for sentences to be carried out, repeating the line that justice delayed is justice denied. Appeals can still delay or stop the December 1 date, and Gonzalez's lawyers can ask the courts to step in during the weeks ahead.