Gov. DeSantis signs 1st death warrant of 2024
Late this afternoon, Gov. DeSantis signed the first death warrant of 2024, scheduling Loran Cole’s execution for August 29, 2024.
Late this afternoon, Gov. DeSantis signed the first death warrant of 2024, scheduling Loran Cole’s execution for August 29, 2024. Cole’s scheduled execution is almost one year after Florida’s last execution on October 3, 2023.1
NOTE: The warrant indicates that the warden at Florida State Prison has changed since Michael Zack’s execution—the last execution in the State.
Shortly after the warrant was signed, the Florida Supreme Court issued its standard scheduling order for the warrant period, outlining the following schedule:
August 9 at 3:00 p.m.: Trial court proceedings must be completed
August 12 at 9:00 a.m.: Notice of Appeal and habeas petition must be filed at the Florida Supreme Court
August 12 at 5:00 p.m.: The record on appeal must be filed.
August 14 at 9:00 a.m.: Initial Brief due
August 16 at 3:00 p.m.: Answer Brief due
August 19 at 11:00 a.m.: Reply Brief due
Background of Cole’s Case
Cole is 57 years old and has been on death row since the late 90s for crimes that occurred in 1994. Below is an excerpt of the Florida Supreme Court’s description of the crimes:
On February 18, 1994, Pam Edwards, a senior at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, drove to the Ocala National Forest, where she met her brother, John Edwards, a freshman at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. The two . . . were setting up camp when Loran Cole briefly stopped by their campsite. Cole soon returned to the campsite, introduced himself as “Kevin,” and helped them set up camp. After John and Pam ate dinner, Cole and William Paul came to the Edwards' campsite. Paul was carrying a walking stick and was introduced to the Edwards as Cole's brother. The four sat around the campfire, and at about 10:45 p.m., they decided to walk to a pond.
The four walked for a while but never found the pond. Instead, Cole jumped on Pam and knocked her to the ground. She got up and tried to run; however, Cole caught her, hit her on the back of the head, handcuffed her, and threw her down on the ground. Meanwhile, John had taken Paul's walking stick and was hitting him with it. Cole then helped Paul subdue John and moved John on the ground next to Pam. While they lay close to each other on the ground, John apologized to Pam for having exposed them to the dangers of these two strangers. Cole told the Edwards that he wanted to take their cars, and he went through their pockets and took their personal property, including their jewelry.
Paul took Pam up the trail, and he was complaining about his hand and head, which were injured in the altercation with John. Pam could hear Cole asking John why he hurt Cole's brother and could hear John grunt a few times. Cole then came to where Pam and Paul were sitting and told them that they were going to wait until John passed out. Cole called back to John several times, and John responded by moaning. Eventually, Cole told Pam he was going to move John off the trail and tie him up. Pam then heard something that resembled a gagging sound. When Cole returned, he said that John must be having trouble with his dinner, hinting that John was vomiting. John died that night from a slashed throat and three blows to the head, which fractured his skull. The injury to the throat caused a loss of blood externally and internally into John's lungs.
Pam, Paul, and Cole then started walking back to Cole's campsite. . . . At the campsite, Cole forced Pam to sleep naked by threatening her that unless she cooperated, she and John would be killed. Cole then forced her to have sexual intercourse with him.
The next morning, Cole went to check on John and told Pam that John was fine. . . . After eating dinner [later], they packed up as much of the camp as would fit into the backpacks carried by Cole and Paul. Cole then gagged Pam and tied her to two trees. Cole and Paul left in Pam's car and went to a friend's trailer, where they spent the night. The two left several items of John Edwards' personal property at the trailer. Thereafter, Cole and Paul returned Pam's car to the Ocala National Forest and took John's car, a Geo Metro.
By the early morning on Sunday, Pam was able to free herself of the ropes. . . . She stayed in that spot until daylight and tried to find John. When she was unable to find him, she flagged down a motorist, who took her to call the police. The police returned with Pam to the scene, and the police located John's body. . . .
Police thereafter arrested Paul and Cole in Ocala on Monday, February 21, 1994. Paul and Cole were indicted on charges of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping with a weapon, and two counts of robbery with a weapon. Cole was also indicted on two counts of sexual battery. Paul pleaded nolo contendere to the charges and was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole for twenty-five years on the murder charge and concurrent terms on the remaining charges. 2
After a trial in September 1995, Cole was sentenced to death following the jury’s unanimous recommendation for death. The trial court followed the jury’s recommendation and sentenced Cole to death, finding four aggravating factors and two nonstatutory mitigating circumstances.3
Direct Appeal
On direct appeal, Cole raised fourteen issues:
(1) whether the trial court abused its discretion in allowing a portion of Pam Edwards' testimony to be read back to the jury; (2) whether the trial court erred in conducting portions of the trial in the defendant's absence; (3) whether the jury's sentencing recommendation was tainted by improper victim-impact testimony; (4) whether the death penalty is proportionate; (5) whether the trial court erred in denying Cole's motion for mistrial after a witness referred to Cole's “history”; (6) whether the trial court erred in denying Cole's motion for change of venue; (7) whether the trial court erred in overruling Cole's objection to the introduction of several photographs; (8) whether the trial court erred in denying Cole's motion to suppress; (9) whether the trial court erred in admitting a stick purported to be the one carried by Paul; (10) whether the trial court erred in failing to adequately instruct the jury; (11) whether the trial court erred in denying Cole's pretrial motions not to allow the State to proceed on both premeditated and felony murder; (12) whether the trial court erred in imposing an order of restitution which included travel expenses for a State witness; (13) whether Cole's sentences on the noncapital offenses are illegal; and (14) whether section 921.141, Florida Statutes (1993), is constitutional.4
On September 18, 1997, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously affirmed Cole’s conviction for first-degree murder and sentence of death. Cole’s sentence of death became final on March 30, 1998.
Initial Postconviction
In 1998, Cole filed his initial postconviction motion. Eventually, in 2003, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed the circuit court’s denial of Cole’s initial postconviction motion. On appeal, Cole raised the following claims:
(1) the trial court erred in denying Cole an evidentiary hearing on trial counsel's failure to (a) present evidence of Cole's extensive drug and alcohol abuse, (b) present evidence of childhood abuse, (c) object to prosecutorial misconduct during the penalty phase closing, (d) request an HAC limiting jury instruction, (e) introduce Paul's life sentence, (f) request co-counsel to assist with the penalty phase, and (g) object to hearsay testimony of Dan Jackson and Deputy Tammy Jicha; (2) trial counsel was ineffective for failing to request and argue two statutory mental mitigators; (3) trial counsel was ineffective for failing to have a competent neuropsychological evaluation performed on Cole; (4) Cole did not receive effective mental health assistance as required by Ake v. Oklahoma, 470 U.S. 68, 105 S.Ct. 1087, 84 L.Ed.2d 53 (1985); (5) the trial court erred by excluding Dr. Dee's testimony during the evidentiary hearing; (6) after an evidentiary hearing, the trial court erred in not finding trial counsel ineffective during the guilt phase regarding trial counsel's (a) failure to conduct individual voir dire, (b) failure to utilize a peremptory challenge to remove juror Cutts, (c) failure to present Paul's testimony, (d) failure to contemporaneously object to the prosecutor's improper opening statement, (e) decision to only call John Thompson during Cole's case-in-chief, and (f) cumulative error as to this claim; (7) the trial court erred in refusing to allow a DNA test; (8) the trial court considered nonstatutory aggravating circumstances; (9) the State withheld exculpatory information in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963); (10) Cole should be allowed to question jurors to determine if there was juror misconduct; (11) the trial court erred in failing to grant an evidentiary hearing on trial counsel's failure to litigate the unconstitutional nature of the aggravating circumstances; and (12) cumulative error exists.5
The Court also denied Cole’s petition for writ of habeas corpus, in which he raised the following issues:
(1) his appellate counsel was ineffective for appellate counsel's failure to argue that (a) Florida's death sentencing statute was unconstitutionally applied to him in light of Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), (b) the trial court erred in denying Cole's motion for a statement of particulars regarding aggravating circumstances, and (c) a jury death recommendation must be unanimous; (2) the prosecutor's penalty phase closing argument constituted fundamental error; (3) Cole may be incompetent to be executed; (4) electrocution (a) remains the mandated mode of execution as the Death Penalty Reform Act of 2000 is unconstitutional, and (b) is cruel or unusual or both; and (5) lethal injection is cruel or unusual or both.6
DNA Testing
On September 20, 2003, Cole filed a motion for postconviction DNA testing. In November 2003, after a hearing on the motion, the circuit court denied Cole’s request. On appeal, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed the denial in a decision dated November 24, 2004, concluding: “The allegations of the motion do not give rise to a reasonable probability of Cole being acquitted or receiving a lesser sentence.”7
Federal Habeas
On May 6, 2005, Cole filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in federal court, raising 25 claims. The Court noted that it could dismiss Cole’s petition “in its entirety based on its untimeliness” but nevertheless addressed Cole’s claims. Ultimately, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida determined that none of Cole’s claims had any merit and granted the State’s motion to dismiss his petition.8 A few weeks later, the Court denied Cole’s request for a certificate of appealability.9
First Successive Postconviction
In 2012, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed the circuit court’s denial of Cole’s first successive postconviction motion. On appeal, Cole “argue[d] that previously repressed memories had resurfaced about abuse he witnessed and suffered at the Dozier School for Boys.”10 He claimed “that this newly discovered evidence demonstrated that trial counsel was ineffective during the penalty phase of Cole's trial.” The Florida Supreme Court determined “the allegations [were] clearly refuted by the record.”
Second Successive Postconviction
In 2013, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed the circuit court’s denial of Cole’s second successive postconviction motion, in which he raised a newly discovered evidence claim related to his repressed memories from Dozier School for Boys. The Court determined that Cole’s claim was “nearly undistinguishable” from his prior claim based on the repressed memories and, therefore, was procedurally barred.11
Hurst
In 2018, the Florida Supreme Court denied Cole relief under Hurst because his sentence of death became final before the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2002 decision in Ring v. Arizona.12
My thoughts are with everyone involved in the warrant and execution process.
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Cole v. State, 895 So. 2d 398, 398 (Fla. 2004) (quoting Cole v. State, 701 So. 2d 845, n.3 (Fla. 1997)).
Cole also received numerous sentences of life in prison for other charges.
Cole, 701 So. 2d at n.3.
Cole v. State, 841 So. 2d 409, n.3 (Fla. 2003).
Id. at n.4.
Cole, 895 So. 2d 398.
Cole v. Crosby, 2006 WL 1169536, at *68 (M.D. Fla. May 3, 2006).
Cole v. Crosby, 2006 WL 15840302, at *1 (M.D. Fla. May 30, 2006).
Cole v. State, 83 So. 3d 706, *1 (Fla. 2012).
Cole v. State, 131 So. 3d 787 (Fla. 2013).
A terrible crime that deserves life in prison. Killing Cole now only puts forth the new title of Premeditated Ceremonial Political Killing. Cole is locked away from the world and if he was actually being punished, i.e.: making a contribution while living out the rest of his life as a daily worker helping the operational aspect of a Florida prison in lieu of providing media and political points just before a national election......the punishment would be severe.