TALLAHASSEE, FL—Murderer and rapist Loran Cole is trying to use a new DeSantis-signed law as his get-out-of-jail-free card—literally.
The issue? He's a murderer and rapist.
So, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the 57-year-old's death warrant on July 29th, 2024—the first execution of the year. Cole is set to be executed on Aug. 29th, though he argues that because he attended the Dozier School for Boys and has Parkinson's Disease, his death sentence should be delayed.
The Florida Supreme Court says no.
Cole was sent to the Dozier School for Boys in 1984, a Central Florida reformatory institution whose staff beat, raped, and seemingly killed up to 100 boys between 1900 and 2011. As an admittedly late response to the atrocities, the Florida Legislature passed a law this year allowing victims who attended the school between 1940 and 1975 to claim up to $50,000 in state compensation.
Cole, who says he too was abused, believes this law is grounds for a stay of execution because it constitutes "newly discovered evidence" of his circumstances. In a unanimous opinion, the state Supreme Court explained that while the law is newly passed, it is not new evidence. And, because Cole has tried to use the Dozier School for postconviction relief multiple times in the past, he is now banned from "raising this issue once more."
The Court also rejected Cole's claim that he experienced "cruel and unusual" treatment from the Department of Corrections and rejected his argument that because he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 2017, lethal injection would be "cruel and unusual punishment" under the Eighth Amendment, due to the illness' signature involuntary tremors.
"Even if the Defendant had such a seizure, the lethal injection protocol requires that an inmate be restrained and the IV lines be taped," the Court said, citing an earlier trial court decision. "Being pricked numerous times in the course of having an IV inserted is not cruel and unusual punishment, however uncomfortable it may be."
On Friday, February 18th, 1994, Florida State University freshman John Edwards and his sister Pam, a St. Petersburg's Eckerd College student, met up to go camping in the Ocala National Forest. While setting up, 27-year-old Cole stopped by and helped them settle.
He'd be back.
Later that evening, Cole and a man named William Paul returned to the campsite, sat around the fire, and went for a walk with the Edwards siblings. This is when Cole attacked and handcuffed Pam, helping Paul restrain John soon after. They robbed them and moved Pam up the trail before Cole chose to beat John with a walking stick and ultimately slit his throat.
Cole raped Pam that night, and again Saturday morning. On Sunday, she escaped, flagged down a motorist, and gave the detailed description of Cole and Paul that led to their arrests. In 1995, Paul was sentenced to life in prison, and Cole to death.
Cole has now been in prison for 29 years and has since motioned for postconviction relief at least five times and appealed his sentence all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Everyone has denied him.
