Florida executes man convicted of 1982 murder, 29th US execution this year

Florida executes man convicted of 1982 murder, 29th US execution this year



This undated photo released by the Florida Department of Corrections and obtained on August 19, 2025 shows death row inmate Kayle Bates. — AFP pic

Wednesday, 20 Aug 2025 10:09 AM MYT



MIAMI, Aug 20 — A 67-year-old man convicted of the 1982 murder of a woman he abducted from her office was put to death by lethal injection in the southern US state of Florida on yesterday.

Kayle Bates was sentenced to death in 1983 for the murder of Janet Renee White, 24, who worked at an insurance company in Lynn Haven, Florida.


White was attacked at her office by Bates after she returned from lunch and stabbed to death in nearby woods.


Bates was executed at 6:17 pm (2217 GMT) at the Florida State Prison, according to officials.

There have been 29 executions in the United States in 2025, the most since 2014, when a total of 35 inmates were also put to death.


Twenty-four of this year’s executions have been carried out by lethal injection, two by firing squad and three by nitrogen hypoxia, which involves pumping nitrogen gas into a face mask, causing the prisoner to suffocate.

The use of nitrogen gas as a method of capital punishment has been denounced by United Nations experts as cruel and inhumane.

Florida has carried out the most executions in 2025 with 10.

The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while three others—California, Oregon and Pennsylvania—have moratoriums in place.

President Donald Trump is a proponent of capital punishment, and on his first day in office called for an expansion of its use “for the vilest crimes.” — AFP

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Executed 42 years after his sentence - what social good has been achieved by that cruel act, one based on a barbaric law as espoused in Exodus 21:23-21:27:

If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.