Florida is preparing to execute Dennis Sochor, a 74-year-old convicted murderer, who would become the oldest inmate ever put to death in the state's modern history, according to court records. Sochor's scheduled execution on Tuesday comes as Florida has become the nation's busiest state for capital punishment, carrying out nine executions this year.
Sochor, on death row since the 1980s, is scheduled to receive a three-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of killing 18-year-old Patricia Gifford on January 1, 1982. Gifford was attacked after she refused to have sex with Sochor and his brother after they left a New Year's Eve party together. Her body was never found.
Sochor was convicted of first-degree murder and kidnapping in 1987. His attorneys had argued in appeals that the state failed to disclose a letter from a detective seeking information about Gifford's body and that the execution drugs might not be effective. The state Supreme Court denied his appeals last week, though a final appeal was pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Florida recently executed Dusty Ray Spencer, another 74-year-old inmate, who became the oldest person executed in the state at that time. This month, an 80-year-old prisoner is also slated for execution, which would make him the state's first octogenarian to receive the death penalty.
Historically, the oldest inmates executed by Florida were Samuel Lee Smithers at 72 in 2025 and R. Charlie Gifford at 72 in 1951. Nationwide, the oldest inmate executed in modern times was Walter Leroy Moody Jr., who was 83 when executed in Alabama in 2018.
Florida's governor has broad discretion in scheduling executions, unlike in many other states where courts manage the process. The office of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, did not comment on the state's recent execution schedule.