Tonight, we the people of the State of Florida executed Kayle Bates (Maud Dib Al Sharif Qu’un), a 67-year-old Black Muslim veteran who had survived more than four decades on death row.
That is the 10th time we have uttered that phrase this year alone, and the 17th time since February of 2023.
From the moment of his arrest more than 40 years ago, until his last breath tonight, Kayle’s prosecution and execution were poisoned by racial bias and scarred by the denial of basic constitutional rights. He was verbally abused and threatened by police during his interrogation. His trial opened with a prayer delivered by the victim’s own white minister, charging his all-white jury to follow God’s “wisdom and guidance” and praying for “special wisdom” for Kayle’s white judge. Kayle’s lawyers presented virtually no evidence to challenge his guilt and offered little reason for the jury to spare Kayle’s life. The jury convicted him and sentenced him to death after just 50 minutes of deliberation.
The Florida Supreme Court would later uphold the conviction by his all-white jury, but would concede that Kayle’s trial lawyers represented him so poorly that he was entitled to a new penalty phase. At his second penalty phase in 1995, Kayle finally had a lawyer who was willing to fight for him and tell his story. Tom Dunn, a fellow military veteran, did everything he could to save Kayle’s life.
Tom quickly recognized a critical problem: when Kayle was arrested, parole after 25 years was still possible, but Florida eliminated that option in 1989. By the time of his retrial, Kayle had already served 12 years, making jurors less likely to recommend a life sentence that could eventually lead to his release. Through Tom, Kayle promised to give up any possibility of ever getting out. He specifically asked that his jury be given the newly available option of life without parole as an alternative to a death sentence. But the Court and the State insisted on getting their pound of flesh. As Tom predicted, after three hours of deliberation, the jury sent a note to the judge: “Can we recommend life without parole?” The judge refused to answer. Just minutes later, the jury returned with a 9–3 vote for death. In no other state in the nation, including under the laws of our federal government, would this verdict render Kayle eligible for execution.
Kayle headed back to death row in 1995, and the injustice continued. With the advancement of DNA testing, in 2016, Kayle petitioned for critical evidence to be tested that he alleged would show his innocence of the crime and the death penalty. The State refused, and the Court sided with the State. In a state where we get it wrong more than any other state in the nation, it is unfathomable that anyone should be executed while there is still untested evidence. If the State is sure they are killing the right person, where is the harm in conducting a single round of DNA testing?
The final nail in the racially-tainted coffin occurred with the signing of Kayle’s death warrant and the subsequent litigation. Kayle’s legal team set forth compelling and objective evidence that Governor DeSantis’ secret warrant selection process is racially discriminatory. They exposed Florida’s death warrant process as one that prioritizes cases with white victims, showing that defendants who kill white victims are far more likely to be executed than those who kill Black victims. Every single court turned a blind eye to this proof that racism, not justice, drives Florida’s death penalty, rubber-stamping Kayle’s state-sanctioned murder.
Kayle’s death tonight was not inevitable. It was a choice by Governor DeSantis and his administration. A choice of cruelty over justice, vengeance over mercy, and finality over fairness. Over the last few weeks, thousands of Floridians, joined by thousands of others across the nation and world, pleaded with the Governor to commute the sentence of a fellow veteran to life without parole. Those pleas fell on deaf ears, and now Kayle’s name is etched in this historic killing spree.
With each killing, Florida falls further out of step with the vast majority of states and nations that have abandoned the death penalty. Florida stands alone in its racially biased, non-unanimous jury sentencing system and the unprecedented number of veterans it has executed. Kayle honorably served our country. He came home broken and wounded. As Veteran Advocate Captain Art Cody implored the Governor last week: “Extreme punishment is supposed to be reserved for the worst of the worst, and these people are not the worst of the worst. In fact, for a significant portion of their time and in service, they were the best of the best.”
The crime for which Kayle was convicted and sentenced was tragic and irrevocable. And yet, without question, he was not the worst of the worst. No Floridians will wake up safer tomorrow, and all of those who loved Kayle will wake up with a new empty space in their hearts. Our citizens, and especially our veterans, deserve better.
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FADP is a Florida-based, state-wide organization of individuals and groups working together to end the death penalty in Florida. Our network includes dozens of state and local groups and thousands of individual Floridians, including murder victims’ family members and other survivors of violent crime, law enforcement professionals, families of the incarcerated, and death row exonerees.