DUSTY RAY SPENCER SCHEDULED FOR EXECUTION IN FLORIDA

Dusty Ray Spencer, a 74-year-old death row inmate, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Thursday at Florida State Prison near Starke. Spencer was convicted of the 1992 stabbing death of his wife, Karen Spencer. The execution would mark Florida's ninth this year, according to official records.

Spencer was arrested in December 1991 after choking and threatening to kill his wife. While in jail, he called Karen Spencer and warned he would "finish what he started" upon release. In January 1992, Spencer beat his wife's teenage son with a clothes iron when the boy attempted to prevent Spencer from attacking his mother. About a week later, the son heard a commotion and found Spencer striking his mother in the head with a brick. When the teen attempted to shoot Spencer with a rifle, the gun misfired, and Spencer threatened the boy with a knife. Police found Karen Spencer dead with multiple stab wounds to the chest.

Spencer's legal representatives have argued that his advanced age and health conditions, including liver disease, would make execution cruel and unusual punishment under constitutional law. They contend that Florida's lethal injection protocol raises concerns about how the drugs will interact with his liver condition. The Florida Supreme Court rejected Spencer's appeals last week. Official figures indicate that Republican Governor Ron DeSantis oversaw 19 executions in 2025, more than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.