At about 1:05 p.m. on June 14, 1982, a friend placed a call to Janet Renee White at a State Farm Insurance office in Lynn Haven. Shortly after answering the phone, Ms. White began screaming, but someone hung up the phone. The friend called police, who found White's body nearby, stabbed to death. Bates soon emerged from the woods and asked to go to his delivery truck, parked nearby. Police arrested him and found White's wedding ring in his possession. He was tried and sentenced to death in 1983, but new sentencing proceedings were ordered twice. He now appeals from the last of these.