{"id":5800,"date":"2026-07-13T05:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T05:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=5800"},"modified":"2026-07-13T05:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T05:34:13","slug":"is-there-such-a-thing-as-being-too-old-to-execute-aging-death-row-inmates-are-set-to-die-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=5800","title":{"rendered":"Is there such a thing as being too old to execute? Aging death row inmates are set to die in Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

MIAMI (AP) \u2014 The last prisoner strapped to a table in Florida\u2019s death chamber was 74 years old \u2014 the oldest the state has executed in modern times. The next two set to die are older still.<\/p>\n

Read more Man who killed Dartmouth professors at 17 seeks reduced prison sentence<\/a><\/p>\n

The series of executions, due to be carried out by the end of this month, highlights the nation\u2019s aging death-row population. One of Florida\u2019s prisoners scheduled to die in July, a man convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend\u2019s parents in 1986, is 80 years old and would be only the second known octogenarian to be executed in the U.S. <\/p>\n

For some, it renews questions about the humanity of administering capital punishment to inmates who might soon die from natural causes. For others, it illustrates how lengthy appeals designed to ensure constitutional protections and prevent innocent people from being executed can also delay justice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs this intentional, as though to say, we\u2019re not going to let a natural death help you escape executions?\u201d asked the Rev. Dustin Feddon, a Catholic priest who has been ministering to Florida death row inmates since 2013. Noting the church\u2019s opposition to capital punishment, he added: \u201cTo execute those that are the most frail and elderly is even more cruel and unusual.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marilyn Gifford, whose sister\u2019s killer is set to die Tuesday, doesn\u2019t see it that way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just happy it\u2019s ever happening in our lifetime,\u201d she said. \u201cI wish my mother was alive to see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Death warrants follow decades on death row<\/h3>\n

On June 25, Dusty Ray Spencer, who was convicted of fatally stabbing his wife in 1992, became the oldest person executed in Florida in modern history. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the 74-year-old\u2019s appeal that his liver disease rendered him susceptible to excruciating pain from lethal injection.<\/p>\n

Dennis Sochor, convicted of killing 18-year-old Patricia Gifford just hours into 1982 after meeting her at a New Year\u2019s Eve party, would be just a week older if his execution is carried out on Tuesday. Marilyn Gifford said she and her family plan to be there.<\/p>\n

Dominick Anthony Occhicone, 80, has spent nearly four decades on death row after being sentenced in the murders of his ex-girlfriend\u2019s parents. He is scheduled to die July 28 and would become the second oldest prisoner known to be put to death in the U.S., after 83-year-old Walter Moody Jr. Moody was executed in Alabama in 2018 for killing a federal judge and a Black civil rights attorney.<\/p>\n

There are three inmates older than Occhicone on Florida\u2019s death row.<\/p>\n

The scheduling of executions is up to the governor<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s unclear why Florida set the executions for the three prisoners consecutively. Maria DeLiberato, legal director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, noted that in Florida, the governor has practically sole discretion when it comes to the scheduling of executions. In many other death penalty states, the scheduling is up to the courts.<\/p>\n

About half of Florida\u2019s 242 death row inmates have exhausted their appeals and could see their death warrant issued at any time. The family of Michael Sheridan spent a year calling and writing to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, requesting he sign a death warrant, before Sheridan\u2019s killer was executed earlier this year.<\/p>\n

DeSantis\u2019 office did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment. He oversaw a record 19 executions in 2025, more in a single year than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The state has executed nine inmates so far this year.<\/p>\n

Read more A tossed shoe leads to late ejection and derails Liberty rally in a 93-91 loss to Toronto<\/a><\/p>\n

DeSantis said last year his goal is to bring justice to victims\u2019 families who have waited for decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of these crimes were committed in the \u201980s,\u201d the governor said last year. \u201cJustice delayed is justice denied.\u201d<\/p>\n

Death row gets older<\/h3>\n

The average age of inmates executed in the U.S. has crept up from the 30s to the 50s over the past half-century, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. While some inmates committed capital offenses later in life, lengthy appeals and mandatory reviews have resulted in many spending decades on death row, sometimes developing medical conditions that can complicate efforts to execute them.<\/p>\n

Occhicone has several age-related ailments, including kidney and prostate problems, according to his attorneys. He needs help getting in and out of the shower, they noted.<\/p>\n

Under Supreme Court precedent, those who were under 18 when they committed their crimes cannot be put to death. But advanced age alone doesn\u2019t provide a legal case for avoiding execution, said Gerod Hooper, an attorney with Florida\u2019s Capital Collateral Regional Counsel, a state agency that provides post-conviction legal representation.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d have to say it\u2019s unconstitutional to execute this 80-year-old because he\u2019s mentally deficient, he doesn\u2019t have capacity to be executed,\u201d Hooper said. \u201cOr because of some underlying medical condition, the drug cocktail they inject would cause undue pain and suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Death row inmates with dementia in Utah and Alabama have avoided execution and later died of apparent natural causes. An inmate in Idaho received at least one stay of execution because of cancer and other health problems, but state officials continue to push for his death.<\/p>\n

\u2018He could live another 20 years\u2019<\/h3>\n

At the time of Gifford\u2019s disappearance, Sochor was free on probation from a 1980 rape conviction.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew him as a child, and he was a bully,\u201d said Frank Frandel, who grew up as a family friend in Portland, Michigan. \u201cI could believe he could be violent like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frandel offered no sympathy for Sochor\u2019s advanced age, pointing out that Sochor\u2019s father will turn 99 this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could live another 20 years,\u201d Frandel said. \u201cSo no, I don\u2019t feel sorry for him being at that age.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more NASCAR Cup Series race in Atlanta resumes following weather delay longer than 3 hours<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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