Oldest inmate set to be executed in Florida will face strict spending limit for final meal
Florida is currently preparing to execute a convicted murderer who has been on death row since the 1980s - but his final meal will be limited by a strict budget.
74-year-old Dennis Sochor is scheduled to be put to death later today (July 14), making history as the oldest inmate to 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.
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And it's not the only last 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?"
Infamous death row meals
Victor Feguer
Feguer kidnapped and killed Dr Edward Bartels in July 1960. The doctor's body was later found in an Illinois cornfield with a single gunshot to the head.
Feguer was convicted of federal kidnapping and murder and executed by hanging at the Iowa State Penitentiary on 15 March, 1963.
For his final meal, the 27-year-old murderer requested a single olive with the pit in it. Feguer apparently told guards that he hoped an olive tree would grow from his grave, 'as a sign of peace'.
John Wayne Gacy
One of America’s most notorious serial killers, Gacy was convicted in 1980 after murdering at least 33 boys and young men in the 1970s.
The 52-year-old was executed by lethal injection at the Stateville Correctional Center in Illinois on 10 May, 1994.
Gacy opted for a bucket of KFC's original recipe chicken, French fries, 12 deep-fried shrimp, and a pound of strawberries for his last supper. In an eerie full-circle moment, it’s said that he previously managed several KFC restaurants owned by his father-in-law.
James Edward Smith
Smith was found guilty of fatally shooting Larry Don Rohus while he was robbing an office building in Houston, Texas, in 1983.
He was put to death by lethal injection at Texas’ Huntsville Unit on 26 June, 1990.
The inmate asked for a lump of rhaeakunda dirt for his final meal, as part of a voodoo ritual, which he both practised and believed in, as he hoped that it would assist his journey into reincarnation.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, his bizarre request was denied, and the 37-year-old was given plain yoghurt instead.
Timothy McVeigh
McVeigh was convicted of conspiracy, using a weapon of mass destruction, and destruction by explosives resulting in death for carrying out the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people.
On 11 June, 2001, he was executed for his crimes via lethal injection at the Federal Correctional Complex in Indiana.
McVeigh, 33, chowed down on two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream for his final meal.
Lawrence Russell Brewer
Brewer was a white supremacist who, along with two other men, was convicted of murdering James Byrd Jr. in 1998.
Aged 44, he was executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit in Texas on 21 September, 2011.
For his last meal, the criminal infamously requested: two chicken fried steaks smothered in gravy with sliced onions; a triple bacon cheeseburger with fixings on the side; a cheese omelette with ground beef, tomatoes, onions, peppers and jalapeños; a large bowl of fried okra with ketchup; one pound of barbecue meat with half a loaf of white bread; three fajitas with all the trimmings; a Meat Lovers pizza; one pint of vanilla ice cream; a slab of peanut butter fudge; and three root beers.
However, when it arrived, Brewer refused to touch any of it - you can imagine how that went down. His actions ultimately led to the state abolishing the long-standing tradition.
Mia Williams