Florida Executes 74-Year-Old Dennis Sochr, State’s Oldest Inmate

On July 15, 2026, Florida carried out the lethal‑injection execution of Dennis Sochr, a 74‑year‑old former Army paratrooper who had spent nearly four decades on death row for the 1982 murder of 18‑year‑old Patricia Gifford in Broward County. Sochr became the state’s oldest inmate ever executed, following Dusty Ray Spencer, who held the record just weeks earlier. The execution was the 10th in Florida in 2026 and the 38th since Governor Ron DeSantis took office.

Sochr’s final statement included an apology to the Gifford family, who said the execution offered a modest sense of closure despite the victim’s remains still being missing. About 50 protesters from anti‑death‑penalty groups held a vigil outside the prison, while a lone supporter played a Soviet‑march song to drown out their chants. The U.S. Supreme Court denied Sochr’s last appeal challenging Florida’s lethal‑injection protocol just hours before the execution.