Man who abducted and murdered woman to be executed in Florida

A man convicted of abducting and murdering a woman in the early 1980s is set to be executed in Florida.

Kayle Bates, 67, is to receive a lethal injection at Florida State Prison on Tuesday evening.

Update: Kayle Bates, 67, was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m. following a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke under a death warrant signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

At the scheduled 6 p.m. execution time, the curtain to the death chamber promptly went up. Bates was already strapped to a gurney with his left arm extended and the IV line for the drugs already in place. When asked if he wished to make a last statement, Bates replied ‘no.’

The execution then began at 6:01 pm. Bates began breathing more rapidly about a minute after the drugs began flowing, and then he stopped after about another minute. At 6:05 p.m., the warden touched Bates’ face, shook his shoulders and shouted his name with no response. Several minutes later, he was declared dead.

Bates was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping, armed robbery and attempted sexual battery in the killing of Janet White in Bay County on 14 June 1982.

He abducted Ms White from the insurance office where she worked, took her into woodland behind the building and attempted to rape her, before stabbing her to death and tearing a diamond ring from one of her fingers, according to court documents.

Florida carries out its executions using a three-drug lethal injection consisting of a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state’s Department of Corrections.

Bates’ death warrant was signed by the state’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis.

Lawyers representing Bates have filed appeals with the Florida Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court, as well as a federal lawsuit, claiming Mr DeSantis’s process for signing death warrants is discriminatory.

The federal lawsuit was dismissed last Tuesday.

The Florida Supreme Court also denied Bates’s pending claims on the same day, which included arguments that evidence of organic brain damage had been inadequately considered during his second penalty phase. The court ruled Bates has had three decades to raise the claims.

A US Supreme Court decision on Bates’s final appeal is still pending.

It would be the 10th death sentence carried out in Florida in 2025. Two more executions are planned within the next month.

A total of 28 men have been executed in the US so far this year, with at least another 10 people scheduled to be put to death in seven states by the end of the year.

Source:   news.sky.com