A Florida city and county seat with a long local history
Florida is preparing to execute 74-year-old Dennis Sochor, potentially the oldest inmate in state history, with a three-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison. He is among three elderly inmates scheduled to die within a month, as Florida’s death row population continues to age. The governor’s scheduling discretion remains a point of commentary as appeals are exhausted.
Sochor has been executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Starke for the 1982 murder of 18-year-old Patricia Gifford, becoming the oldest death-row inmate to be executed in Florida’s modern history. The state’s aging death row population continues to shape its judicial calendar.
Two inmates, including an 80-year-old man, have been executed in Florida within hours of each other. Governor DeSantis has accelerated the state's use of the death penalty, making Florida the busiest death chamber in the U.S. this year. Duckett and Occhicone faced lethal injections after appeals were denied; the pace marks a historic uptick since 2025.