A person convicted of abducting a lady from a Florida Panhandle insurance coverage workplace and killing her is scheduled to be executed Tuesday night.
Kayle Bates, 67, is about to obtain a deadly injection at 6 p.m. at Florida State Jail close to Starke underneath a loss of life warrant signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
It could be Florida’s tenth loss of life sentence carried out in 2025, additional extending the state document for a single yr. Two extra executions are deliberate throughout the subsequent month.
For the reason that US Supreme Courtroom restored the loss of life penalty in 1976, the very best earlier annual whole of Florida executions was eight in 2014.
Florida has executed extra folks than another state this yr, whereas Texas and South Carolina are tied for second place with 4 every.
Bates was convicted of first-degree homicide, kidnapping, armed theft and tried sexual battery within the June 14, 1982, killing of Janet White in Bay County within the Florida Panhandle.
Bates kidnapped White from the insurance coverage workplace the place she labored, took her into some woods behind the constructing, tried to rape her, stabbed her to loss of life and tore a diamond ring from considered one of her fingers, based on courtroom paperwork.
Attorneys for Bates have filed appeals with the Florida Supreme Courtroom and the US Supreme Courtroom, in addition to a federal lawsuit claiming DeSantis’ course of for signing loss of life warrants was discriminatory.
The federal lawsuit was dismissed final Tuesday, with the choose discovering issues with the lawsuit’s statistical evaluation. The courtroom dominated that even when the numbers have been right, they wouldn’t essentially show discrimination.
On the identical day, the Florida Supreme Courtroom denied Bates’ pending claims, together with arguments that proof of natural mind harm had been inadequately thought of throughout his second penalty part. The courtroom dominated that Bates has had three many years to boost these claims.
A US Supreme Courtroom resolution remains to be pending on Bates’ last enchantment.
A complete of 28 males have died by court-ordered execution thus far this yr within the US, and at the very least 10 different individuals are scheduled to be put to loss of life in seven states throughout the the rest of 2025.
Curtis Windom, 59, is about to turn into the eleventh particular person executed in Florida on Aug. 28. He was convicted of killing three folks within the Orlando space in 1992.
David Pittman, 63, could be the twelfth particular person executed in Florida if his loss of life sentence is carried out as scheduled Sept. 17. He was discovered responsible of fatally stabbing his estranged spouse’s sister and fogeys at their Polk County house earlier than setting it on hearth in 1990.
Florida executions are carried out utilizing a three-drug deadly injection: a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the guts, based on the state Division of Corrections.
