Oldest inmate set to be executed in Florida will face strict spending limit for final meal

An entire category of food is also off-limits for final meal requests in Florida

Florida is currently preparing to execute its oldest inmate later today (July 14), a 74-year-old convicted murderer who has been on death row since the 1980s—but his final meal will be limited by a strict budget.

Dennis Sochor is scheduled to be put to death later today, making history as the oldest inmate to ever be executed in the state.

The criminal, who has been on death row for nearly 40 years, will be administered the lethal three-drug injection, with the process due to begin at around 6pm.

But his infamous 'final meal' will be limited by a strict $40 budget, a rule which was first implemented by the state in 1979.

And it's not the only final meal request rule that has been put in place by the Florida Department of Corrections.

Under their current policy, the meal cannot exceed $40 in total cost and must be made up of ingredients that can be purchased from local stores.

Fast food is also prohibited.

Sochor was convicted of killing a woman on January 1, 1982, just hours after meeting her at a New Year’s Eve party.

Patty Gifford, 18, was celebrating with a friend at a popular South Florida bar, the Banana Boat, when she was approached by Sochor and his brother.

They spent several hours talking before her friend became ill and went to sleep in her car.

The 18-year-old went onto leave the party with Sochor and his sibling, but instead of going to get food as the three had originally planned, they stopped their truck in a remote location.

It's reported that the murderer attacked Gifford when she refused to have sex with him.

But Sochor wasn't arrested until May 1986, more than four years on from the horrifying murder.

Broward County Sheriff's Lt. Mark Schlein told the South Florida Sun Sentinel in 1983: "The only mistake she made was going out with friends and celebrating New Year's Eve.

"She was a young and beautiful girl, with everything to live for, it's a real tragedy."

In appeals over the years, Sochor has argued that the state has no evidence that Gifford is dead because her body hasn't been found, which the court has rejected.

Speaking with the outlet in 1983, Marilyn Gifford, the victim's mother, added: "It's bad enough what he did to her.

"But he's had all this time to repent, to think about what he did, so why not give her back?"

One death row inmate's final moments led Florida to permanently change its last meal rules

A prison superintendent's small act of kindness to a death row inmate in 1979 led to such public outrage that Florida's death row rules had to be revised.

John Spenkelink, 30, was the first murderer to be executed in Florida after the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

But that wasn't the only reason he made history.

The killer was put to death for the 1973 murder of Joseph Szymankiewicz in a Tallahassee motel room.

The victim, 45, had been shot twice and beaten in the head with a hatchet. Spenkelink claimed he had acted in self-defense, alleging the man forced him at gunpoint to perform a sexual act and play Russian roulette.

But shortly after Spenkelink was sentenced to death, the state realized they were faced with a problem—no one knew how to operate the chair.

There were no written instructions on how to carry out an execution, and there was no executioner.

''We had to start from scratch and rely on people's memories,'' said Richard Dugger, then assistant superintendent of Florida State Prison, speaking with the Ledger.

Bear in mind no one had been executed in Florida for 15 years.

As the execution drew near, prison superintendent Dave Brierton was trying to think of a way to calm Spenkelink down as he awaited his fate.

He said, "It was a very difficult time for Spenkelink. It was a very difficult time for me. It was the loss of a human life."

To try and 'take the edge off,' he pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniel's and told Dugger to offer the inmate a drink.

Dugger told UPI: "It seemed like a way to maybe calm the fellow down before he was supposed to go to the chair.

"We talked about tranquillizers, but we didn't feel drugs were appropriate. Maybe you would say alcohol is a drug, I don't know.

"We asked Spenkelink if he wanted a drink, and he said, 'Sure.'"

Digger went on to share a drink with other death row inmates too, but the state of Florida's last meal provisions were later revised to exclude alcohol.

Bob Dekle, chief prosecutor in the Ted Bundy murder case, recalled that many people were outraged by the request, as many suggested a killer did not deserve such a privilege.

But Spenkelink isn't the only inmate to have changed rules around death row meals forever.

Texas banned last meals on death row in 2011, following the execution of Lawrence Russell Brewer.

According to a report from Jacksonville.com, Brewer asked for enough food to feed a whole street, including two chicken-fried steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, fried okra, a pound of barbecue, three fajitas, and a meat lover's pizza.

But he didn't stop there, as the inmate also asked for some sweet treats to round off the meal, including a pint of ice cream and a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts.

The prison delivered on his request—but then revealed that Brewer didn't eat any of it, instead claiming he wasn't hungry.

And his behavior subsequently ended the 87-year tradition of allowing death row inmates in Texas to choose their last meal.

Source: unilad.com, Mia Williams, July 14, 2026

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde

Death Penalty News For a World without the Death Penalty