Associated Press
A Florida man scheduled to be put to death on Thursday is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to delay his execution so his challenge to Florida’s lethal injection procedures can be heard.
Loran Cole, 57, is slated to be executed at 6 p.m. on Thursday at the Florida State Prison after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his death warrant in July. Cole was convicted of kidnapping adult siblings camping in the Ocala National Forest in 1994, raping the sister and murdering the brother.
On Monday, Cole appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the execution, arguing that his challenge of the state’s lethal injection procedures deserves to be heard. Cole has argued the administration of Florida’s drug cocktail will “very likely cause him needless pain and suffering” due to symptoms caused by his Parkinson’s disease.
“Cole’s Parkinson’s symptoms will make it impossible for Florida to safely and humanely carry out his execution because his involuntary body movements will affect the placement of the intravenous lines necessary to carry out an execution by lethal injection,” his attorneys argued in court filings.
Many of Florida’s death penalty procedures are exempt from public records. Botched executions in other states have brought increased scrutiny of the death penalty and the secrecy around it, as officials struggle to secure the necessary drug cocktails and staff capable of administering them.
In their filings, Cole’s attorneys note that other death row inmates were granted similar hearings to consider how their medical conditions could affect their executions. Cole’s legal team claims that denying him a hearing violates his 14th Amendment rights to due process and equal protection.
On Aug. 23, the Florida Supreme Court denied an appeal from Cole, who has also argued his execution should be blocked because he suffered abuse at a state-run reform school where for decades boys were beaten, raped and killed.
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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
3 comments
Dont Say FLA
August 27, 2024 at 7:12 am
Fentanyl seems to get the job done nice and quiet, the way We The People prefer ourselves to be executed by our government. Why not give Fentanyl a try?
Ocean Joe
August 27, 2024 at 7:46 am
Florida’s drug cocktail will “very likely cause him needless pain and suffering” due to symptoms caused by his Parkinson’s disease.
He should have thought about how future diseases might effect his execution when he committed those crimes. Personally, I think we were crazy to eliminate the electric chair. Nothing creates deterrence like Old Sparky.
A point missed here is the length of time folks spend on Death Row. This guy got to live 30 years after his crime. Were our court system a bit more streamlined maybe we could have spared this guy the time it took to develop Parkinson’s and spared the taxpayers the cost of 3 decades of keeping him locked up.
Andrew Finn
August 27, 2024 at 8:59 am
On poor baby !!!! The drug cocktail will cause him “needless pain and suffering” . Kinda like his victims, huh ?? Well okay, in that case, let’s plug Old Sparky back in and light him up !!!!!!