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Starke, FL - A Florida inmate convicted in a Broward County homicide more than 40 years ago is scheduled to be executed after Governor Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant authorizing the sentence to move forward.
According to state records, 74-year-old Dennis Michael Sochor is set to be executed at Florida State Prison after being convicted in the 1981 murder of 18-year-old Patricia Gifford.
Court documents show Gifford disappeared following a New Year's Eve celebration in South Florida before her body was later discovered.
Prosecutors said evidence presented during the trial showed Sochor met Gifford during the holiday celebration and later abducted and killed her.
Investigators linked him to the crime, leading to his arrest, prosecution and eventual conviction on first degree murder charges.
A jury ultimately recommended the death penalty, and a judge imposed the sentence.
The case has remained active in state and federal courts for decades as attorneys pursued multiple appeals and post conviction challenges.
Court records indicate those efforts included reviews of the conviction, sentencing procedures and other legal claims.
Despite years of litigation, judges repeatedly upheld both the conviction and death sentence.
Under the warrant signed by DeSantis, the execution is scheduled for July at Florida State Prison in Starke.
The action continues a recent increase in executions carried out in Florida after several death warrants were signed in recent years.
The murder of Gifford attracted significant attention in South Florida and has remained one of Broward County's most notable homicide cases from the early 1980s.
With legal appeals largely exhausted, state officials are preparing to carry out the sentence unless a court intervenes before the scheduled execution date.
The case has moved through Florida's judicial system for more than four decades before reaching its current stage.