A man convicted of luring a woman from a Florida insurance office and subsequently killing her is set to be executed on Tuesday evening.
Kale Bates, 67, is scheduled to receive his lethal injection at 6 p.m. at a Florida prison near Stark, following a death warrant signed by Governor Ron DeSantis.
This marks Florida’s 10th death sentence in 2025, a new record for the state within a single year. Additionally, two more executions are planned next month.
Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976 by the U.S. Supreme Court, Florida recorded its highest annual number of executions, which was eight in 2014.
This year, Florida has carried out more executions than any other state, with Texas and South Carolina following in second and fourth place, respectively.
Bates was found guilty of first-degree murder, armed robbery, and attempted sexual assault in the death of Janet White in Bay County on June 14, 1982.
As per court documents, Bates accused White, who worked at the insurance office, of various grievances. He then took her to a wooded area behind the building, where he allegedly attempted to rape and stab her, also tearing a diamond ring from her finger.
His legal team has pursued numerous appeals, including to both the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court. They filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the process behind DeSantis’ signing of the death warrant was discriminatory.
However, the federal lawsuit was dismissed last Tuesday. A judge remarked on issues with the statistical analysis presented, noting that even if the figures were accurate, they didn’t conclusively demonstrate discrimination.
On the same day, the Florida Supreme Court denied Bates’ pending claims, including one suggesting that evidence of an organic brain injury wasn’t sufficiently considered in his second penalty phase. The court noted that Bates had spent 30 years on these claims.
A decision from the U.S. Supreme Court on Bates’ last appeal is still awaited.
This year, 28 individuals have been executed in the United States under court orders, with at least 10 more executions expected across seven states before the end of 2025.
Additionally, Curtis Wyndham, 59, is set to become Florida’s 11th death row inmate on August 28. He’s convicted of killing three people in the Orlando area back in 1992.
David Pittman, 63, could be the 12th person executed in Florida if his execution proceeds as scheduled for September 17. He was convicted of fatally stabbing his estranged wife’s sister and parents in a Polk County home before starting a fire in 1990.
Florida carries out executions using a three-drug cocktail consisting of a sedative, a paralytic agent, and a drug to stop the heart, according to state officials.
