Related Video: Florida Supreme Court refuses to appeal Bates’ enforcement
STARK, Fla. (AP) — A man convicted of killing a woman from a Florida Panhandle insurance office was executed Tuesday evening.
US Navy sailors from Florida were defeated at sea after disappearing from the ship
Kale Bates, 67, was declared to have died at 6:17pm after three drug injections at the Florida prison near the Florida prison under a death warrant signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. This was the 10th death sentence implemented by Florida in 2025, extending the state’s record for one year of enforcement. Two more runs are planned for the next month
Desantis spokesman Alex Lanfranconi said Bates said “No” when asked if there was a final word just before the drug was flowing.
Since the US Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976, Florida’s highest annual total of execution was eight in 2014. Florida executed more people this year than any other state, while Texas and South Carolina each placed fourth and second.
Bates was found guilty of first-degree murder, tricking, armed robbery and attempted sexual assault on June 14, 1982, killing Janet White in Bay County, the Florida Panhandle. According to court documents, Bates accused White of the insurance office where she worked, took her to the forest behind the building, attempting to rape her, stab her, and tore a diamond ring from her finger.
Bates’ attorneys filed appeals before the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court. It also filed a federal lawsuit claiming that the process of signing DeSantis’ death warrant was discriminatory. The lawsuit was recently dismissed by a judge who found issues in the statistical analysis of the lawsuit.
The Florida Supreme Court recently rejected a pending claim for Bates, including the argument that evidence of organic brain damage was inadequately considered in his second penalty stage. The court ruled that Bates had spent 30 years bringing these claims. And on Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. Supreme Court refused Bates’ final appeal, blocking enforcement.
A total of 29 men were due to court-ordered executions this year in the US, with at least nine people expected to die in seven states for the remainder of 2025.
Curtis Wyndham, 59, is set to become the 11th person in Florida on August 28th. He was convicted in 1992 for killing three people in the Orlando area.
David Pittman, 63, will be the 12th person to be executed in Florida if his death sentence is made, as scheduled for September 17th. He was found guilty of fatally stabbing his estranged wife’s sister and parents at a Polk County home before setting the fire in 1990.
Florida’s execution is carried out using triple drug lethal injections. It is a sedative, paralytic and heart-stopping drug, according to the state Department of Corrections.
The Department of Corrections said Bates woke up at 5:15am on Tuesday and had three visitors, including his daughter, sister and stepbrothers. He declined his final meal and did not meet with a spiritual advisor, said department spokesman Ted Vehman.
