Former inmate at Dozier School for Boys facing execution following 1994 murder

JACKSON COUNTY, Fla. ( WMBB ) – A Marion County Circuit judge is refusing to vacate the death penalty of a former inmate at the Dozier School for Boys.

He claims his abuse at the hands of Dozier guards led him to the murder a decade later.

57-year-old Loren Cole is scheduled to be executed at the Florida State Prison in Starke on August 29.

In 1994, Cole murdered a Florida State University student named John Edwards who went camping with his sister in the Ocala National Forest.

Cole slashed Edwards’s throat and repeatedly hit him in the head. Edwards’ sister was sexually assaulted. Cole’s lawyers have claimed his criminal behavior was caused by the time he spent at a Dozier School for Boys in Marianna.

He was 17 years old when he was sent to Dozier in 1984 for 6-months. He claims guards bat him twice a week, raped him once, and broke both legs after an escape attempt.

Earlier this year the state passed the Dozier Compensation Bill, entitling victims at Dozier between 1940 and 1975 to payments.

Cole is not eligible for the money. But his lawyers argued the compensation bill amounts to an admission of the state’s guilt in the abuse of the dozier boys, including Cole.

They asked the court to vacate his death sentence. The judge has refused. Dozier has been closed for more than a decade. We will likely see a number of appeals leading up to Cole’s execution date.

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