Murderpedia has thousands of hours of work behind it. To keep creating
new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help
the Murderpedia project stay alive. We have many
plans and enthusiasm
to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really
need your help for this. Thank you very much in advance.
Kayle Barrington BATES
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Kidnapping
- Attempted
to rape - Robbery
Fourteenth
Judicial Circuit, Bay County, Case #82-661
Sentencing
Judge: The Honorable W. Fred Turner
Resentencing
Judge: The Honorable W. Fred Turner
Resentencing II
Judge: The Honorable Donald T. Sirmons
Attorney, Trial:
Theodore R. Bowers, Esq. - Private
Attorney,
Resentencing: David A. Davis - Assistant Public Defender
Attorneys,
Resentencing II: Thomas H. Dunn, Esq. & Harold Richman, Esq. - Private
Attorney; Direct
Appeal: David A. Davis - Assistant Public Defender
Attorney, Direct
Appeal Resentencing: David A. Davis - Assistant Public Defender
Attorney, Direct
Appeal Resentencing II: Thomas Dunn, Esq. - Private
Attorneys,
Collateral Appeals: Terri Backhus & Suzanne Keffer – CCRC-S
Date of
Offense: 06/14/82
Date of
Sentence: 03/11/83
Date of
Resentencing: 07/22/85
Date of
Resentencing II: 07/25/95
Circumstances of
Offense:
The defendant,
Kayle Bates, kidnapped and attempted to rape the victim before he
stabbed her to death and robbed her.
On the afternoon
of June 14, 1982, Bates abducted the victim, 24-year-old Janet Renee
White, from her office, took her into a wooded area behind the building,
attempted to rape her, stabbed her to death and removed a diamond ring
from one of her fingers.
Trial Summary:
01/20/83 As charged in the indictment, the
defendant was convicted as followed:
01/21/83 Upon advisory sentencing, the jury, by a vote of 11 to
1, recommended the death sentence for the murder conviction.
03/11/83 Defendant was sentenced as followed:
Count I: First-Degree Murder – Death
Count II: Kidnapping – Life
Count IV: Armed robbery – Life
Attempted Sexual
Battery – 15 years
Resentencing
Summary:
07/22/85 Defendant was resentenced to death.
Resentencing II
Summary:
05/25/95 Upon
advisory sentencing, the jury, by a vote of 9 to 3, recommended
the death sentence.
07/25/95 Defendant was sentenced to death.
Case
Information:
Bates filed his first
direct appeal with the Florida Supreme Court in 1983. The court in
1985 vacated the death sentence and remanded to the trial court for a
reweighing of the aggravating circumstances against the mitigating
evidence.
The trial court
resentenced Bates to death in 1985. On direct appeal the Florida
Supreme Court in 1987 affirmed the sentence. The U.S. Supreme Court
denied certiorari the same year.
Governor
Martinez in September 1989 signed a death warrant on Bates. The
defendant responded by filing a 3.850 motion with the trial court the
following month and a petition for a writ of habeas corpus with the
Florida Supreme Court in November 1989. The trial court stayed the
execution, and in its 1990 opinion held that Bates' counsel had been
ineffective during the original sentencing proceeding. The court
vacated the sentence and remanded for a new sentencing hearing.
The
State appealed the ruling to the Florida Supreme Court and Bates filed a
cross-appeal. The Supreme Court in a consolidated 1992 opinion denied
habeas and in affirming the trial court’s ruling, remanded for resentencing. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1993 denied certiorari.
The trial court
in 1995 resentenced Bates to death. Bates filed a direct appeal to the
Florida Supreme Court in 1995. The court in 1999 affirmed the
sentence. The U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in 2000.
In 2001, Bates
filed a 3.850 Motion in the trial court. That motion is currently
pending.
