State to execute 80-year-old inmate later this month
Florida’s execution chamber has been the busiest in the nation this year, with nine executions carried out in 2026 — more than every other state combined, according to the Associated Press. The state is scheduled to add a tenth Tuesday evening.
Dennis Sochor, 74, is scheduled to receive a three-drug injection starting at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of killing a woman on Jan. 1, 1982, just hours after meeting her at a New Year’s Eve party, the AP reported.
Sochor, who has been on death row since the 1980s, would become the oldest inmate executed in Florida history. The previous record was set just weeks ago, when Florida executed Dusty Ray Spencer, also 74, on June 25. Sochor will be exactly one week older than Spencer if Tuesday’s execution is carried out as scheduled, according to the AP.
The executions highlight the nation’s aging death row population, according to the AP. Later this month, Florida is also scheduled to execute an 80-year-old prisoner who would be the state’s first octogenarian to receive the death penalty.
Sochor is one of three older inmates set to die in the span of about a month, the AP reported. Spencer was executed June 25, and the 80-year-old inmate is scheduled later in July.