Florida executed 74-year-old Dennis Sochor on Tuesday evening at Florida State Prison, making him the oldest inmate put to death in the state’s modern history. Sochor’s execution is part of a consecutive series of lethal injections scheduled by the state involving three aging inmates over a one-month span.
Sochor was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m. following a three-drug injection. He was convicted in 1987 of first-degree murder and kidnapping for the Jan. 1, 1982, killing of 18-year-old Patricia Gifford.
Court records indicate that the two met at a New Year’s Eve party in the Fort Lauderdale area, and Gifford went missing after leaving a bar with Sochor and his brother to get breakfast. Sochor was arrested in Georgia in 1986 on unrelated charges, and police stated he confessed on tape to choking Gifford and hiding her body. Her remains have never been found.
The execution chamber curtain opened at 6:00 p.m., showing Sochor already strapped to a gurney. Asked if he had any last words, Sochor apologized several times to the Gifford family, stating he was “deeply sorry,” and thanked his own family for their support.
He then commended his spirit to Jesus Christ. The administration of the drugs began at 6:03 p.m. Sochor experienced roughly a minute of heavy breathing followed by a brief period of sputtering before becoming still. The warden checked for responsiveness after two minutes without getting a reaction, and a medical professional officially pronounced him dead at 6:14 p.m.
The U.S. Supreme Court denied Sochor’s final appeal on Tuesday afternoon without providing a comment.
Following the execution, Marilyn Gifford, the victim’s sister, read a statement to reporters noting that the event brings a measure of bittersweet closure because her sister’s body was never recovered.
“He had 45 years to return Patty’s remains to us, but he cruelly chose not to,” Gifford said. “We never got a chance to lay her to rest in God’s arms. Without closure, every happy memory of Patty is immediately crushed by the tragedy of her murder.”
Gifford added that Sochor lived more than twice as long on death row as her sister lived her entire life, concluding, “Tonight’s execution was appropriate because Dennis Sochor was a lifelong brutal and sadistic man.”
Sochor’s execution marks the 10th time Florida has carried out the death penalty this year out of 16 total executions across the United States. The state’s active execution schedule highlights an aging death row population across the country.
On June 25, Florida executed 74-year-old Dusty Ray Spencer, who was only a week younger than Sochor and briefly held the record as the state’s oldest executed inmate.
Later this month, on July 28, the state is scheduled to execute 80-year-old Dominick Anthony Occhicone for a double murder. If it proceeds, Occhicone will be the first octogenarian executed in Florida and the second-oldest in modern U.S. history, behind 83-year-old Walter Moody Jr., who was executed in Alabama in 2018.
In Florida, the timing and scheduling of executions rests entirely with the governor, whereas other states frequently leave scheduling to the court system.
READ: Florida Appeals Court Rules State Can Seek Death Penalty Against Man After Mistaken Filing
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