The State of Florida is getting ready to execute Dusty Spencer for the murder of his wife in 1992
According to court documents Dusty Spencer would be arrested following a violent domestic incident with his wife Karen Spencer in December 1991
Dusty Spencer would continue to harass Karen from jail with repeated phone calls threatening to kill her.
When Dusty would get out of jail he would go to the home of Karen Spencer and again became violent. Her son Timothy attempted to intervene however Dusty would attack the teenager. When Timothy attempted to phone the police Dusty would attack him with a clothes iron.
Karen Spencer manage to leave the house however Dusty would soon find her and attack her with the clothes iron
Dusty Spencer would be arrested again however he would soon be released on bail.
Dusty would go back to Karen Spencer’s home where he would beat her with a brick. Timothy would grab a rifle and attempted to shoot Dusty however the weapon would misfire. Timothy would strike Dusty with the butt end of the gun however it would do little to stop Dusty. Timothy would go to a neighbors home where he would call 911.
When police arrived at the home they would find Karen Spencer dead from being stabbed
Dusty Spencer would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
His execution is set for July 25 2026 by lethal injection
Dusty Spencer was executed by lethal injection on July 25 2026. He was the oldest person to be executed in Florida history
Dusty Spencer Execution News
Dusty Ray Spencer, 74, is scheduled Thursday to become the ninth person executed this year inside Florida State Prison’s death chamber in Starke.
He’ll be the oldest person put to death in the state since Florida’s reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976.
Spencer stabbed his wife Kathy to death in Orange County in 1992. He was sentenced to death later that year.
Jeff Hood, Spencer’s spiritual advisor, held a news conference last week calling Spencer’s scheduled death a “nursing home execution,” according to CBS News.
“The fact that Dusty Ray Spencer is being executed at his age, in his health, says everything we need to know about how haywire this entire system has gone,” Hood said in the conference call.
Florida executed a state record 19 people in 2025.
Attorney General James Uthmeier at a recent news conference defended Florida’s increasing use of the death penalty.
“We all take an oath to enforce the law,” he said. “The people that are being executed have committed some of the most heinous crimes, unspeakable things, many things to women and children.”
Nineteen days after Spencer’s scheduled execution, Florida is set to put Dennis Sochor to death. The 74-year-old man is 12 days younger than Spencer. He killed an 18-year-old woman he met at a bar 44 years ago during a New Year’s celebration in Broward County.
Dusty Spencer More Execution News
A 74-year-old Florida death row inmate is scheduled to be executed June 25, a move that would make him the oldest person ever executed in the state’s history.
Dusty Ray Spencer was convicted in 1992 of murdering his wife, Karen, following a trial held at what is now the Orange County Regional History Center in downtown Orlando.
Appeals exhausted after 3 decades
The backstory:
Spencer has spent more than 30 years on death row while pursuing multiple appeals and post-conviction challenges, all of which have been unsuccessful.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Dusty Spencer’s death warrant on May 26, clearing the way for the execution.
Supporters of the sentence say the punishment remains justified despite the passage of time.
“He did bad things to his wife, and I think he deserves the punishment that is waiting for him,” said retired detective Thomas McCann, who worked on the case.
Opponents question execution
Death penalty opponents argue Dusty Spencer has already paid a steep price after spending decades behind bars and question whether executing an elderly inmate serves a meaningful purpose.
Activist Rev. Jeff Hood said Spencer has spent more than 30 years in prison and has already faced significant consequences for his crime.
Cost of death penalty remains part of debate
Legal experts say the case also highlights the financial costs associated with capital punishment.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, housing death row inmates in Florida costs roughly twice as much as housing prisoners in the general population.
Florida State University professor Mark Schlakman said the costs associated with death penalty cases often exceed those of life imprisonment and have contributed to a decline in the number of states authorizing capital punishment.
Public divided on pending execution
Residents interviewed in Orlando expressed mixed opinions about Spencer’s scheduled execution.
Some said age should not exempt someone from punishment for murder, while others argued the state is spending significant resources to carry out a sentence more than three decades after the crime occurred.
Spencer’s attorneys continue to pursue appeals, but as of now, his execution remains scheduled for June 25.
Dusty Spencer Execution 6/25/26
A 74-year-old Florida man who was convicted of fatally stabbing his wife on Thursday became the oldest person executed in the state since it began modern record-keeping in 1924.
Dusty Ray Spencer was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m. after receiving a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. Spencer had been found guilty of the 1992 stabbing death of his wife Karen.
The curtain to the death chamber went up promptly at the scheduled 6 p.m. execution time and the warden asked Spencer if he had any last words. Spencer was already strapped down on a metal table with an IV inserted in his arm. A spiritual adviser was at the foot of the table.
“Sorry, sorry to the family. Into thy hands I commit my spirit and my soul. I’m on my way, Lord. I’m on my way. Amen,” Spencer said.
Immediately following Spencer’s statement, the lethal drugs began flowing. After a few minutes of labored breathing, Spencer stopped moving. Afterward, relatives of the victim released no statement.
The warden then shook Spencer and shouted his name several times but there was no response. Several more minutes elapsed before a medic was called in to check Spencer’s vital signs, and the inmate was declared dead.
Alex Lanfranconi, a spokesman in the office of Gov. Ron DeSantis, separately told The Associated Press that there were no complications
Florida Department of Correction records show the oldest inmates previously executed by the state were both 72 — Samuel Lee Smithers on Oct. 14, 2025, for the 1996 killings of two women; and R. Charlie Gifford on Feb. 21, 1951, for the 1950 shooting death of a state lawmaker, Charles Schuh Jr.
Another 74-year-old Florida inmate, Dennis Sochor, is set to be executed on July 14. Socor was convicted of killing a woman just hours into 1982 after meeting her at a New Year’s Eve party.
Nationwide, the oldest person ever executed in modern times was Walter Leroy Moody Jr., 83, who was put to death in Alabama in 2018 for sending mail bombs during a wave of Southern terror, killing a federal judge and a Black civil rights attorney.
Thursday’s execution was the ninth in Florida this year after a record 19 executions in 2025. DeSantis, a Republican, oversaw more executions in a single year in 2025 than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The previous record was eight executions set in 2014.
Court records show Spencer was arrested after choking and threatening to kill Karen Spencer in December 1991. While in jail, Dusty Ray Spencer called his wife and warned her that when he got out, he was going to finish what he started.
Police found victim with several stab wounds to chest
On Jan. 18, 1992, Spencer beat his wife’s teenage son with a clothes iron when the boy tried to stop Spencer from attacking his mother, officials said. Then about a week later, the son responded to a commotion outside their home and found Spencer hitting his mother in the head with a brick, according to officials.
Court records show the teen tried to shoot Spencer with a rifle, but the gun misfired. Spencer threatened the teen with a knife, and the boy ran away to get help. When police arrived, they found Karen Spencer dead with several stab wounds to the chest.
Spencer was initially sentenced to death in 1992 after being convicted of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault and aggravated battery. In 1994, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing after finding that the trial court had mishandled evaluating aggravating and mitigating circumstances. Spencer was resentenced to death the next year, and subsequent appeals have been denied.
Florida Supreme Court rejected appeals from Dusty Ray Spencer
Last week, the state Supreme Court rejected Spencer’s appeals. His attorneys had argued that he has health issues such as liver disease that pose a heightened risk of pain and suffering and argued that executing him at his advanced age would constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
A final appeal was still pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
A total of 47 people were executed in the U.S. in 2025. Florida led the way with a flurry of death warrants signed by DeSantis. Alabama, South Carolina and Texas tied for second with five executions each.
Another execution is scheduled in Florida for July 14. Dennis Sochor, 74, was convicted of killing a woman just hours into 1982 after meeting her at a New Year’s Eve party.
All Florida executions are carried out by lethal injection of a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.
