The 13th Execution of 2024
A Florida man convicted of killing a college freshman and
raping the murder victim’s older sister while the siblings camped in a national
forest 30 years ago was executed on August 29, 2024, according to The Associated Press.
Loran Cole, 57, received a lethal injection and was
pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. at Florida State Prison for the 1994 killing of
the 18-year-old student. Cole also was serving two life sentences for rape.
Cole did not have a last statement. “No sir,” he said when
asked if he had some final words.
After the procedure began about 6 p.m. Cole briefly looked
up at a witness in the front row. After three minutes, he began taking deep
breaths, his cheeks puffing out. For a brief moment, his entire body trembled.
Five minutes into the procedure, the warden shook him and shouted his name.
Cole then appeared to stop breathing and then was declared dead.
Cole and a friend, William Paul, befriended the two college
students in the Ocala National Forest, court records showed. After talking
around a fire, the men offered to take the siblings to see a pond. While away
from the campsite, Cole and Paul jumped the victims and robbed them, according
to the records.
The brother, 18, who was a student at Florida State
University, was beaten and had his throat slit and left in the forest. His
sister, then a 21-year-old senior at Eckerd College, was taken back to the
campsite, where Cole tied her up and raped her, according to the record.
The woman was left tied to a tree overnight and raped again
the next day. She eventually managed to free herself and flagged down a driver
for help. Police found her brother’s body lying face down on the ground,
according to court records.
Paul and Cole were both convicted of first-degree murder.
Paul was sentenced to life in prison.
Although they did not attend the execution, the parents of
the victims had a statement read afterward by corrections officials. They wrote
about how the murder of their son and the attack on their daughter had
shattered their lives. But they said their daughter had gone on to become a
wife, teacher and professor.
“Though invisible to others, our daughter bears internal
scars that will never go away. She battled years of fear, pain and sorrow,” the
statement said. “She is our hero.”
“We are void of feelings and empathy for Mr. Cole. He placed
himself into this arena,” it added. “He does not deserve mercy.”
The Associated Press does not generally identify victims of
sexual assault unless they come forward publicly.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant for Cole last
month.
The execution was the first in Florida since Michael Zack
was put
to death last October for the 1996 killing of Ravonne Smith.
Department of Corrections officials described Cole as
“compliant” in the hours before his execution and said he had two visitors,
including his son.
The U.S. Supreme Court denied Cole’s final appeal earlier
Thursday.
His lawyers had raised several points in seeking a stay of
execution, including the fact that Cole was an inmate at a state-run reform
school where he and other boys were beaten and raped. The state has since
apologized for the abuse and this year passed a law authorizing reparations for
inmates at the now-shuttered reform
school. The lawyers also argued Cole shouldn’t be executed because he was
mentally ill and had brain damage and Parkinson’s disease.
To read more CLICK HERE
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment