Florida Set to Execute 9th Inmate This Year as Dusty Ray Spencer, 74, Dies for 1992 Stabbing of Wife
STARKE, Fla. — A Florida man convicted of fatally stabbing his wife more than three decades ago is set to become the state's ninth inmate executed this year, as Florida continues a surge in capital punishment that has drawn national attention.
Dusty Ray Spencer, 74, is scheduled to receive a three-drug lethal injection at 6 p.m. Thursday at Florida State Prison near Starke for the 1992 murder of his wife, Karen Spencer. If carried out, the execution would extend Florida's lead as the most active death penalty state in the country this year, following a record 19 executions in 2025. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed more death warrants in 2025 than any Florida governor since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, surpassing the previous record of eight set in 2014.
Court records trace the case back to December 1991, when Spencer choked and threatened to kill his wife. While jailed on that charge, he called her and warned that he would "finish what he started" upon release. The violence escalated on Jan. 18, 1992, when Spencer beat Karen's teenage son with a clothes iron as the boy tried to intervene during an attack on his mother. About a week later, the same teen heard a commotion outside their home and found Spencer hitting his mother in the head with a brick.
The teen attempted to stop Spencer by firing a rifle, but the gun misfired. Spencer then brandished a knife and threatened the boy, who fled for help. When police arrived, they found Karen Spencer dead with multiple stab wounds to the chest.
Originally sentenced to death in 1992 after a conviction for first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault and aggravated battery, Spencer later won a resentencing hearing in 1994 after the Florida Supreme Court ruled the trial court mishandled the evaluation of aggravating and mitigating factors. He was again sentenced to death the following year, and subsequent appeals were consistently denied.
Last week, the Florida Supreme Court rejected Spencer's latest appeal. His attorneys argued that his advanced age—74—and health conditions, including liver disease, posed a heightened risk of pain and suffering during execution, calling it cruel and unusual punishment. A final appeal remained pending before the U.S. Supreme Court as of Thursday afternoon.
Nationally, 47 people were executed across the United States in 2025. Florida led the way with a flurry of death warrants signed by DeSantis, while Alabama, South Carolina and Texas tied for second with five executions each. The push has reignited debate over the pace of capital punishment, particularly for elderly inmates with health complications.
Another execution is already scheduled in Florida for July 14: Dennis Sochor, also 74, was convicted of killing a woman hours into 1982 after meeting her at a New Year's Eve party. All Florida executions are carried out by lethal injection using a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.