Execution date set for Florida man convicted of kidnapping woman, killing her

A man on death row in Florida is scheduled to be executed next month for his conviction of abducting a woman from an insurance office and killing her.

Kayle Bates, 67, is set to be put to death on Aug. 19 in the 10th execution scheduled for this year in Florida.

Bates was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping, armed robbery and attempted sexual battery in connection with the June 14, 1982, death of 24-year-old Janet White in Bay County.

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He was accused of abducting White from the State Farm insurance office where she worked before taking her into the woods behind the building, at which point he attempted to rape her, stabbed her to death, and tore a diamond ring from one of her fingers, according to Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier’s summary of the case.

According to court records, Bates was a delivery man for a Tallahassee paper company and had made at least one earlier delivery stop at the insurance office. 

He had broken into the insurance office while White was on her lunch break and waited for her to return.

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Last year, the Florida Supreme Court rejected an appeal regarding a juror from his initial trial. The U.S. Supreme Court also denied a petition on June 30.

Bates’ attorney, James Driscoll Jr., said he would be filing further appeals in the case.

“We believe his execution would violate the U.S. constitution,” he told The Associated Press.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Bates’ death warrant on Friday, just three days after the state executed Michael Bell for shooting and killing two people outside a bar in 1993 as part of an attempted revenge killing.

Bell was the eighth person executed in Florida this year, and a ninth is scheduled for later this month. The state put six people to death in 2023, but only one execution happened last year.

Bell was the 26th person to be executed in the U.S. so far this year in the U.S., exceeding the 25 executions carried out last year. This is the highest number of executions since 2015, when 28 people across the country were put to death.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.