BAY COUNTY, Fla. ( WMBB ) – The Florida Supreme Court has denied a motion from an inmate who murdered a local woman more than 40 years ago.
Kayle Barrington Bates was a delivery driver for a Tallahassee office supply company.
On June 14, 1982, he attacked 23-year-old Renee White at a Highway 77 insurance office where she worked.
Bates dragged White into the woods behind the building where the assault continued until he murdered her.
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A jury convicted Bates in 1983 and Judge Fred Turner sentenced him to death.
He’s been resentenced several times since then, each with the same result, the death penalty.
This latest appeal involves one of the original jurors. Bates claims the juror is the second cousin of someone who was married to Renee White’s sister.
Bates was requesting an interview with the juror in question. But Thursday the Florida Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s denial of the appeal, saying the time limit for juror interviews expired years ago.