A convicted murderer a week away from execution is pleading for a judge to spare his life, blaming the abuse he experienced as a teen at a Florida state reform school for his "life choices" and his decision to rape and kill years later.
Lawyers for Loran Cole, now 57, alleged the state is "complicit in the horrific and tragic" abuse that occurred at the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys which "contributed to his life choices," according to court documents, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.
The school in the Florida panhandle gained a reputation for the abuse, rape and murder of its students over its century-long history, before it was shut down in 2011.
Cole attended the school in 1984 when he was 17.
He would later go on to murder 18-year-old Florida State University student John Edwards, and rape John's sister, 21-year-old Pam Edwards, during a sibling camping trip in Ocala National Forest, in 1994, court records reviewed by the Lawyer Herald confirmed.
Now, as part of a last ditch effort, Cole's lawyers are asking a judge to nullify his death warrant – signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in July – and instead order the felon to life in prison.
"Cole is pleading for a life sentence, because of what Florida employees did to him while he was at Dozier. Considering how Florida has admitted to oppressing vulnerable youth at Dozier, the fact that Cole was a student there, let alone suffered horrific abuse while confined, changes the perception and impact of the mitigation his jury was presented," attorneys Ali Shakoor and Adrienne Joy Shepherd wrote in their Saturday court filing, according to the outlet.
Cole claimed he was raped and abused during his time as a student at the now-shuttered school.
People who attended Dozier and another Florida state school between 1940 and 1975, and who were "subjected to mental, physical or sexual abuse perpetrated by school personnel," are now eligible for part of $20 million settlement, however given the year Cole attended, he does not qualify.
"If Cole's jury had known about the severe abuse that happened at Dozier, and Florida's willingness to acknowledge the severe problems at Dozier to the extent that designated victims are entitled to reparations, there is a reasonable probability the newly discovered evidence would yield a less severe sentence," the lawyers stated in their filing. "There is a reasonable probability a jury presented with the newly discovered information would recommend a sentence of life for Cole."
But prosecutors argued whether or not Cole was victimized as a teen, he would've ended up a killer either way.
"There is no reason to believe that this evidence of his treatment at Dozier would likely lead to a different result in Cole's sentence," prosecutors filed in response Sunday.
Cole is still scheduled to die by lethal injection Aug. 29.
