Florida to execute Loran Cole for murder of FSU student: What you should know

A man is scheduled to be executed in Florida on Thursday for kidnapping and murdering an 18-year-old college student who was on a camping trip with his older sister in the Ocala National Forest in north-central Florida.

If all goes according to plan with the lethal injection, 57-year-old Loran Cole will be the first inmate executed in Florida this year and the 13th in the entire country.

Cole was convicted of first-degree murder in the February 18, 1994, death of John Edwards, a freshman at Florida State University. He was also convicted of sexual assault for the rape of Edwards' then 21-year-old sister.

If Cole is executed, it would be the seventh time a man has been executed in Florida since Aug. 8, 2019. The last execution in the Sunshine State took place in October, when the state executed Michael Zach for the 1996 murder of a woman.

Here's what you should know about Cole's case and his execution:

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How many people are on death row in Florida?

As of Wednesday, Cole was one of 279 people, including two women, on Florida's death row and among 2,241 men and women on state and federal death row across the United States.

Just one day earlier, a judge in Lee County, Florida, sentenced 30-year-old Wade Wilson to death for the brutal murders of Kristine Melton and Diane Ruiz in 2019.

Anyone sentenced to death in Florida can choose between two methods of execution. The standard method of execution is lethal injection, but the convicted person can also choose to die in the electric chair.

If the Supreme Court upholds Florida's conviction, it will have 30 days to decide which method to use.

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When is Cole supposed to be killed by lethal injection?

Cole is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at the Florida State Penitentiary sometime after 6 p.m. Thursday.

This method is the most common in the country. The first drug in a three-drug cocktail administered during Florida executions is the sedative etomidate. The second drug injected into the condemned inmate is the paralytic rocuronium bromide. The last drug administered is potassium acetate, which is designed to stop the inmate's heartbeat.

According to Florida state execution guidelines, Cole is allowed to request a final meal as long as it does not exceed $40.

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Why was Loran Cole convicted?

On February 18, 1994, the Edwards siblings were setting up camp when they met Cole, then 27, and another man, William Paul, then 20. Cole introduced himself as “Kevin” and Paul as his “brother” and helped them finish setting up their site.

That night, the Edwardses headed to a pond to take photos of alligators with the men. They never made it.

Before reaching the pond, Cole jumped Edward's sister and handcuffed her, according to court documents. Her brother tried to intervene but was overpowered by both men.

Paul led the woman further up the trail and Cole was left with John Edwards, who died of a slit throat and multiple skull fractures. Edwards' sister was raped and tied between two trees the next morning before she could free herself. A driver found her and called 911. Police found Edwards' body covered in pine needles, sand and palm fronds.

Three days later, police arrested Cole and Paul.

In 1995, the men were convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping and robbery with a deadly weapon. Cole was also sentenced to death for sexual assault. Paul pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to life in prison.

Ten days before the scheduled execution, Colleen Kucler, who has a 36-year-old adult son with Cole, told USA TODAY that she visited the death row inmate and prayed “for a miracle” in his case.

What did Cole's defense argue?

Cole, who claims Paul was responsible for Edwards' murder, has filed more than a dozen appeals over the years.

“He maintains that he did not kill Edwards and that the murder weapon was found among Paul's belongings and his fingerprints are on it,” Gerod Hooper, senior assistant to the Capital Collateral Regional Counsel, the state agency that represents indigent death row inmates in Florida, told USA TODAY.

Cole's lawyers recently argued that the lethal injection would cause “unnecessary pain and suffering” because Cole has been suffering from Parkinson's symptoms since 2017 and “causes his arms and legs to shake.”

Cole also argued that his life should be spared because he had been subjected to “horrific abuse” at the closed, notorious Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys state reformatory in Marianna, an hour west of Tallahassee.

Florida to execute Loran Cole for murder of FSU student: What you should know

How many people are on death row in Florida?

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