TALLAHASSEE, Florida — A Florida man who was to be sentenced to death on Thursday has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay his execution so his challenge to Florida’s lethal injection procedures can be heard.
Loran Cole, 57, is expected to executed at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Florida State Penitentiary after Gov. Ron DeSantis death sentence 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 objection to the state’s lethal injection procedures should be heard. Cole has argued that administering Florida’s drug cocktail would “very likely cause him unnecessary pain and suffering” because of symptoms caused by his Parkinson’s disease.
“Cole’s Parkinson’s symptoms make it impossible for Florida to carry out his execution in a safe and humane manner 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 documents.
Many of Florida’s death penalty proceedings are exempt from public registers. Failed executions in other states have led to an increase strict supervision of the death penalty and the secrecy surrounding it, as officials struggle to provide the necessary drug cocktails And staff be able to manage these.
In their filing, Cole’s attorneys note that other death row inmates have been given similar hearings to consider how their medical conditions might affect their executions. Cole’s legal team argues that denying a hearing violates his 14th Amendment rights to due process and equal protection.
On August 23, the Florida Supreme Court refused an appeal by Cole, who has also argued that his execution should be blocked because he was abused at a state-run juvenile detention center where boys were held for decades beaten, raped and murdered.
___ Kate Payne is a staff member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-reported issues.