Florida is preparing to carry out the execution of Kayle Barrington Bates, who was convicted for the 1982 kidnapping and murder of Janet Renee White. This execution, scheduled for Aug. 19 at Florida State Prison in Raiford, will be the tenth in the state this year, a figure that surpasses previous annual records and is higher than any other state in the country.
Janet Renee White’s husband, Randy White, is set to witness the execution after more than four decades of waiting for justice. “This has just been hanging out there for 43 years,” said White. “At least this part I can put behind me and not think of it again. I can be done with it.”
Bates was sentenced to death after being found guilty of breaking into Renee White’s workplace, attacking her, and killing her. According to court documents, he overpowered her despite her attempts to fight back and subsequently committed violent acts before she died from strangulation and stabbing wounds. Police apprehended Bates at the scene with evidence linking him directly to the crime.
Randy White recounted his reaction when notified about his wife’s murder: “He looked at me and said, ‘Mr. White, I don’t know any easy way to say this … but your wife’s been murdered,'” he remembered. “I completely lost it … You’re not prepared for life to just stop that abruptly.”
In recent appeals, Bates’ attorneys have argued unsuccessfully for DNA testing and presented claims that Florida disproportionately executes Black inmates or those whose victims were white. The Florida Attorney General’s Office responded: “These statistics totally rebut any claim of racial discrimination in the Governor’s warrant selections,” prosecutors wrote.
Bates’ attorney James Driscoll Jr., described Bates as “a man of faith” who turned to Islam during his imprisonment around 1993. Driscoll said: “The man has exhibited a quiet dignity throughout all of these proceedings that is inspirational (…) If the state of Florida takes Mr. Bates life, it will be a tragic miscarriage of justice (…) Regardless of what happens, Mr. Bates is at peace.”
White also reflected on his relationship with Renee: “She walks in the door, and I mean the second she walked in, I can still remember what I said. ‘Who the heck is that young lady?'” he recalled. He added, “We were completely crazy about each other (…) Like flipped upside-down crazy.”
Following Renee’s murder, White remarried but never had children. “After she was killed, that part of me went away,” he said. “It destroyed me.” Now facing Bates’ execution after so many years, he stated: “There’s been so many deaths in her family, and I thought I would pass and never see justice (…) 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.”
Veterans groups have called for reprieves for Bates and other veterans facing execution in Florida; they sent a letter signed by 130 veterans urging Governor Ron DeSantis not to proceed with veteran executions: “We can never be a veteran friendly state when our leader is signing off on their deaths at the hands of the State (…) We urge you now to lead from a place of bravery, to return to the honor code from your service, and to stop setting the executions of our fellow soldiers.”
DeSantis has maintained that executions are reserved for “the worst of the worst” offenders with an aim “to bring closure” for victims’ families.
Florida has ten additional executions scheduled this year; among them is Curtis Windom’s on Aug. 28.
