NEED TO KNOW
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Kayle Bates, 67, will be executed Tuesday, Aug. 19, for the 1982 abduction and murder of 24-year-old Janet Renee White in Bay County, Fla.
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Appeals citing racial bias and calls for new DNA testing were denied
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The execution will be Florida’s 10th this year, setting a new state record
A Florida man convicted of killing a woman after abducting her from the insurance office where she worked is scheduled to be executed, court records show.
Kayle Bates, 67, will die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 19, at Florida State Prison in Raiford, Fla., under a death warrant signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in July, according to online Florida Supreme Court records reviewed by PEOPLE. Bates’ execution will be Florida’s 10th this year, setting a new state record, the Associated Press reports.
Bates was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping, attempted sexual battery and armed robbery in connection with the June, 14, 1982 killing in Bay County, Fla., according to an affidavit obtained by PEOPLE. The victim’s name is redacted in the affidavit but she is identified in reports as 24-year-old Janet Renee White, according to the AP, USA Today and WJHG-TV.
According to the affidavit, White, a State Farm insurance clerk, returned from lunch that afternoon to find Bates, who surprise attacked her while she answered the phone. Bates had talked to White earlier that day but then parked his truck in the woods behind the building and broke into the office, waiting for her to return, the affidavit states.
“[Bates] overpowered her and forcibly took her from the office building to the woods, where he beat, strangled and attempted to rape her, leaving approximately 30 contusions, abrasions and lacerations on various parts of her face and body,” the affidavit states.
Per the affidavit, Bates was found at the crime scene with blood on his clothes and the victim’s ring in his pocket. Additionally, investigators matched a missing watch pin found in the office to Bates’ watch and green fibers on White’s clothes were consistent with Bates’ pants. Also, the knife case found near the victim was the exact type that Bates wore, according to the affidavit. Authorities said he later confessed to the murder.
Bates was originally sentenced to death in 1983 after being convicted of the crime. His death sentence stood despite a re-sentencing in 1995 and several unsuccessful appeals in state and federal court, per the affidavit.
Attorneys for Bates have asked for additional DNA testing in the case, which has been denied, per the affidavit. They have also filed a federal lawsuit arguing that “Florida’s execution warrant process is infected with racial discrimination and unconstitutional arbitrariness,” per a press release.
According to the AP, that lawsuit was dismissed last week.
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“If the state of Florida takes Mr. Bates life, it will be a tragic miscarriage of justice,” James Driscoll Jr., one of Bates’ attorneys, told USA Today. “Regardless of what happens, Mr. Bates is at peace.”
The victim’s surviving husband, Randy White, will face his wife’s killer at his execution on Tuesday. He told USA Today he met his wife as a teenager and they married a little over two months after that first meeting.
“There’s been so many deaths in her family, and I thought I would pass and never see justice,” he told the news outlet. “It’s going to be different to start life new again without this in the forefront … But I’ll never get past it. I will fight that until my last breath.”
Read the original article on People
