Killer’s final apology revealed as he becomes Florida’s oldest executed inmate
Florida executed 74-year-old Dennis Sochor, among its oldest prisoners, on Tuesday. He was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m. following a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke.
His execution is one of three older inmates scheduled within a month in Florida, the nation’s busiest death penalty state.
Sochor was convicted of killing 18-year-old Patricia Gifford on January 1, 1982, hours after meeting her at a New Year’s Eve party.
At 6 p.m., with the death chamber curtain raised, Sochor was strapped to a gurney, an IV in his arm. Asked for last words by the warden, Sochor confirmed he had them.
The execution plans highlight the aging death row population in the U.S. and the busy death chamber in Florida, which has now carried out 10 of the 16 executions conducted in the nation this year (AP Photo/Curt Anderson)He apologized several times to the Gifford family, saying he was “deeply sorry” and also thanked his own loved ones for their support over the years. Then he commended..
