Florida executes 74-year-old Dennis Sochor, one of state's oldest death-row inmates
A 74-year-old prisoner convicted of murdering 18-year-old Patricia Gifford in 1982 was executed by lethal injection in Florida, one of three elderly inmates the state planned to put to death within roughly a month.
Florida executes 74-year-old Dennis Sochor, one of state's oldest death-row inmates
A 74-year-old prisoner was put to death by lethal injection in Florida on Tuesday, becoming one of the oldest individuals ever executed by the state. Dennis Sochor, sentenced for the murder of 18-year-old Patricia Gifford in 1982, was pronounced dead at 18:16 local time at a correctional facility near Starke.
Sochor was among three elderly inmates Florida had scheduled for execution within approximately one month, a period during which the state has carried out the highest number of executions in the United States. Before the procedure began, the prisoner, strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm, was asked by a guard whether he wished to make a final statement.
The 74-year-old apologised to Patricia Gifford's relatives, expressing that he was "deeply sorry," and thanked his own loved ones for their support over the decades. He then invoked Jesus Christ shortly before the administration of the lethal drugs.
The case that led to Sochor's death sentence began on New Year's Day 1982. According to court records, Patricia Gifford had met Sochor and his brother at a bar in the Fort Lauderdale area, where she was celebrating the change of year. The four individuals conversed for several hours, but later, after Gifford's friend departed, the young woman left with the two men with the intention of getting breakfast.
Investigators determined that Sochor drove to an isolated area and attacked Gifford when she refused to engage with him. He was arrested in 1986 in Georgia in connection with another matter and extradited to Florida. His brother had initially told authorities that Sochor was responsible for Gifford's disappearance, while the convicted man himself admitted in a recorded statement that he had drowned her and disposed of her body.
In 1987 he was found guilty of first-degree murder and kidnapping and condemned to death. Marilyn Gifford, Patricia's sister, witnessed the execution and stated that carrying out the sentence offered some relief to the family, though the case remained unresolved because the 18-year-old's body has never been located.
"He had 45 years to return Patty's remains to us, but chose not to," she said in a statement, asking anyone with information to contact the authorities. She added that Sochor had spent more than twice as long on death row as her sister had lived.
The execution highlighted the ageing population of prisoners on death row in the United States, as well as Florida's particularly high execution rate. The state has carried out 10 of the 16 executions nationwide this year, more than any other state. The reason Florida scheduled three elderly inmates for execution in quick succession has not been made public. Maria DeLiberato, legal director of the organisation Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, noted that the governor holds almost exclusive authority in setting execution dates.
The Republican governor Ron DeSantis's office did not comment on the recent pace of executions. Sochor's death came just weeks after another 74-year-old inmate, Dusty Ray Spencer, was executed on 25 June for the murder of his wife. Before them, the oldest individuals put to death in Florida were two 72-year-old men: Samuel Lee Smithers, convicted of killing two women in 1996, and Charles Gifford, convicted of murdering a state legislator in 1950.
Meanwhile, the execution of 80-year-old Dominick Anthony Otsicone, sentenced for the murder of his former partner's parents, has been scheduled for 28 July. If carried out, Otsicone would become the second-oldest person executed in modern US history, after 83-year-old Walter Moody Junior, who was put to death in Alabama in 2018 for the murder of a federal judge and civil-rights attorney.
Source: ERT News
Source: ERT