Inmate's attorneys urge Florida Supreme Court to halt the state's next execution
By News Service of Florida
August 4, 2025 at 10:49 AM EDT
Kayle Bates' attorneys told justices that state prosecutors denied the jury truthful information necessary to a realistic understanding of his potential sentences.
Attorneys for convicted killer Kayle Bates asked the Florida Supreme Court on Friday to halt his scheduled Aug. 19 execution, saying that putting him to death by lethal injection would be a “final, manifest injustice in a case marred by many injustices.”
The attorneys filed a brief and requested a stay of execution for Bates, who was convicted in the 1982 murder of Janet White, who was abducted from a State Farm insurance office where she worked in Bay County.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on July 18 signed a death warrant for Bates, and Bay County Circuit Judge Dustin Stephenson on Wednesday rejected arguments aimed at preventing the execution.
ALSO READ: DeSantis signs 10th death warrant of year
In appealing to the state Supreme Court after Stephenson’s decision, Bates’ attorneys raised a series of issues. For example, the attorneys wrote in Friday’s brief that a 9-3 jury recommendation that led to Bates’ death sentence was based on a “fatal untruth.” The brief said jurors were misled to believe Bates could be released on parole in 12 years if he was not sentenced to death.
“The trial court and the state (prosecutors) denied the jury truthful information necessary to a realistic understanding of Mr. Bates’ potential sentences,” the brief said.
Bates’ attorneys also argued he was mentally ill at the time of the murder and that his “organic brain damage” was not considered.
ALSO READ: Florida carries out record ninth execution of year
“This was not a missed objection or a failure to ask a question,” the brief said. “It was an utter lack of consideration for a compelling form of mitigation that has long been used to find capital punishment inappropriate.”
Bates, 67, is scheduled to be the 10th inmate put to death by lethal injection this year in the state. Edward Zakrzewski was executed Thursday in the 1994 murders of his wife and two children in their Okaloosa County home.
DeSantis also has signed a death warrant setting an Aug. 28 execution date for Curtis Windom, who was convicted of killing three people in the Orlando area in 1992.
The attorneys filed a brief and requested a stay of execution for Bates, who was convicted in the 1982 murder of Janet White, who was abducted from a State Farm insurance office where she worked in Bay County.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on July 18 signed a death warrant for Bates, and Bay County Circuit Judge Dustin Stephenson on Wednesday rejected arguments aimed at preventing the execution.
ALSO READ: DeSantis signs 10th death warrant of year
In appealing to the state Supreme Court after Stephenson’s decision, Bates’ attorneys raised a series of issues. For example, the attorneys wrote in Friday’s brief that a 9-3 jury recommendation that led to Bates’ death sentence was based on a “fatal untruth.” The brief said jurors were misled to believe Bates could be released on parole in 12 years if he was not sentenced to death.
“The trial court and the state (prosecutors) denied the jury truthful information necessary to a realistic understanding of Mr. Bates’ potential sentences,” the brief said.
Bates’ attorneys also argued he was mentally ill at the time of the murder and that his “organic brain damage” was not considered.
ALSO READ: Florida carries out record ninth execution of year
“This was not a missed objection or a failure to ask a question,” the brief said. “It was an utter lack of consideration for a compelling form of mitigation that has long been used to find capital punishment inappropriate.”
Bates, 67, is scheduled to be the 10th inmate put to death by lethal injection this year in the state. Edward Zakrzewski was executed Thursday in the 1994 murders of his wife and two children in their Okaloosa County home.
DeSantis also has signed a death warrant setting an Aug. 28 execution date for Curtis Windom, who was convicted of killing three people in the Orlando area in 1992.