Additional Coverage:
- Florida executes man for 1982 killing of abducted woman, state’s 10th execution in 2025 (cbsnews.com)
Starke, FL – Kayle Bates, 67, was executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison on Tuesday evening. His death marked a grim milestone for the state, making it the 10th execution in Florida this year, surpassing the previous record of eight in 2014. Two more executions are scheduled in the coming weeks.
Bates was convicted in the 1982 murder of Janet White in Bay County. He abducted White from her workplace, attempted to sexually assault her, and then stabbed her to death, stealing a diamond ring in the process.
Bates was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m. He declined a final meal and declined to offer any last words. He had visits with his daughter, sister, and brother-in-law earlier in the day.
Despite numerous appeals, including a federal lawsuit alleging discriminatory practices in Governor DeSantis’s death warrant signing process, Bates’s execution proceeded. Both the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeals.
With Bates’s execution, 29 people have been executed in the U.S. this year. Florida leads the nation in executions in 2025.
Scheduled executions for Curtis Windom (August 28th) and David Pittman (September 17th) would bring Florida’s total to 12 for the year. Windom was convicted of a triple homicide in Orlando in 1992, while Pittman was convicted for the 1990 murders of his estranged wife’s family in Polk County.
Governor DeSantis has overseen at least 20 executions since taking office in 2019 and has not granted clemency to any death row inmate. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Florida has the second-highest death row population in the country, with 278 inmates. The last clemency grant in Florida was in 1983.