Dennis Sochor, 74, was executed by lethal injection in Florida on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, for the 1982 murder of 18-year-old Patricia Gifford. He used his final words to apologize to the victim's family and commend his spirit to Jesus Christ.
Final Words and Execution
Sochor repeatedly apologized to the Gifford family, saying he was “deeply sorry” for his actions. He also thanked his own loved ones for their support. His execution by a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke was pronounced at 6:16 p.m. He was one of the oldest prisoners ever executed by the state.
Background of the Crime
According to court records, Gifford was celebrating New Year's Eve 1982 at a Fort Lauderdale bar with a friend when they met Sochor and his brother. After the friend became ill and went to sleep in her car, Gifford left with Sochor and his brother to get breakfast. Instead, Sochor stopped his truck in a secluded area and attacked Gifford when she refused to have sex with him. Sochor was arrested in Georgia in 1986 on unrelated charges and extradited to Florida. He confessed on tape to choking Gifford and disposing of her body, which was never found. A jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and kidnapping in 1987, and he was sentenced to death.
Legal Appeals and Death Row Population
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Sochor's last request to intervene on Tuesday. Last week, the state Supreme Court denied his appeals, including arguments that the state violated his right to a fair trial by failing to disclose a 2022 letter from a detective to Sochor's brother asking about the location of Gifford's body.
Sochor was one of three older inmates scheduled for execution within a month in Florida, the nation's busiest death penalty state. Another 74-year-old inmate, Dusty Ray Spencer, was executed on June 25 for the killing of his wife. Later this month, the state plans to execute 80-year-old Dominick Anthony Occhicone for the killings of his ex-girlfriend's parents. If carried out, Occhicone would become the second oldest prisoner executed in modern U.S. times, after 83-year-old Walter Moody Jr. in Alabama in 2018.
Florida's Execution Record and Governor's Role
Florida has carried out 10 of the 16 executions conducted in the U.S. this year, more than every other state combined. In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis has practically sole discretion over scheduling executions, unlike many other death penalty states where courts handle scheduling. DeSantis oversaw a record 19 executions in 2025, the most by any Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The previous record was eight executions in 2014.
Maria DeLiberato, legal director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, noted that the governor's sole discretion in scheduling is unique. The office of Governor DeSantis did not respond to a request for comment prior to Tuesday's execution.
