Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody argued Tuesday that the execution of an inmate with Parkinson's symptoms should not be delayed just because his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court against lethal injections in his state came too late.
Moody said Loran Cole, 57, waited too long to raise concerns that the cocktail of drugs was “very likely to cause him unnecessary pain and suffering” due to the symptoms of his Parkinson's disease.
“Cole knew for at least seven years that he was suffering from symptoms of Parkinson's disease, but he was hesitant to file a lawsuit against lethal injection until his death warrant was signed. Nothing prevented him from doing so,” Moody's office said in a court document Tuesday.
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Loran K. Cole, 57, was found guilty of kidnapping adult siblings who were camping in a national forest in 1994. He then raped the sister and murdered the brother. (Florida Department of Corrections via AP)
The execution is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at the Florida State Penitentiary after Governor Ron DeSantis signed Cole's death warrant in July.
He was found guilty of kidnapping adult siblings who were camping in the Ocala National Forest in 1994 before raping the sister and murdering the brother.
Cole has appealed the stay of his execution to the U.S. Supreme Court, claiming that the denial of a hearing violates his rights to due process and equal treatment under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said Loran Cole waited too long to raise concerns that the cocktail of drugs was “very likely to cause him unnecessary pain and suffering” due to symptoms caused by his Parkinson's disease. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Cole's Parkinson's symptoms make it impossible for Florida to safely and humanely carry out his execution because his involuntary body movements interfere with the placement of the intravenous lines necessary for an execution by lethal injection,” his lawyers said in court documents.
Many death penalty cases in Florida are not publicly disclosed. Botched executions in other states, including nearby Alabama, have heightened concerns about the death penalty and the secrecy of its proceedings. State authorities also have difficulty obtaining the drugs for lethal injection and the personnel who must administer it.
THE FIRST EXECUTION IN SOUTH CAROLINA IN OVER 13 YEARS IS PLANNED FOR NEXT MONTH
Loran Cole's execution is scheduled for Thursday at 6 p.m. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, file)
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Last week, the Florida Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Cole.
Cole also argued that his execution should be prevented because he was mistreated at a state reformatory where boys were beaten, raped and killed for decades.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
