Florida executes Kayle Bates for murder of Janet Renee White in 1982

TALLAHASSEE — Hours after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected final appeals, Kayle Bates was executed Tuesday evening .

Bates, 67, was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m. at Florida State Prison, according to the state Department of Corrections. He was the 10th inmate executed this year in Florida, a modern-era record for one year.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on July 18 signed a death warrant for Bates, who was convicted in the murder of Janet Renee White, an employee of a State Farm insurance office in Bay County.

Bates was a delivery driver who stopped at the insurance office in June 1982. Later, White, who went by her middle name, returned from lunch and found Bates waiting for her after he broke into the building, according to a Florida Supreme Court opinion last week.

“Bates attacked her, but Renee fo