A Florida man who was convicted of fatally stabbing his wife more than 30 years ago is scheduled to be put to death Thursday evening at Florida State Prison near Starke.
Dusty Ray Spencer, 74, is set to receive a lethal three-drug injection beginning at 6 p.m. for the January 1992 killing of his wife, Karen Spencer.
If the execution proceeds as planned, it will mark Florida’s ninth execution so far this year. That comes on the heels of a record-setting 2025, during which Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis oversaw 19 executions — more than any Florida governor since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1976. The previous single-year record stood at eight executions, set back in 2014.
According to court records, Spencer’s violent history with his wife began before the killing. He was arrested in December 1991 after choking Karen Spencer and threatening to take her life. While he was behind bars, Spencer reportedly called his wife and warned her that he would finish what he had started once he was released.
The violence escalated in early 1992. On January 18 of that year, Spencer beat Karen’s teenage son with a clothes iron when the boy attempted to intervene and protect his mother, officials said. Roughly a week later, the same teenager heard a disturbance outside the family’s home and discovered Spencer striking his mother in the head with a brick.
Court records indicate the teen attempted to shoot Spencer with a rifle, but the weapon misfired. Spencer then turned a knife on the boy, who fled to find help. When law enforcement arrived on the scene, they found Karen Spencer dead from multiple stab wounds to the chest.
Spencer was first convicted of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault, and aggravated battery, receiving a death sentence in 1992. Two years later, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing hearing after determining the trial court had improperly weighed aggravating and mitigating factors in the case. Spencer was again sentenced to death in 1995, and his subsequent appeals have been unsuccessful.
Just last week, the state Supreme Court turned down Spencer’s latest round of appeals. His legal team had argued that his health conditions — including liver disease — put him at greater risk of experiencing pain and suffering during execution, and that putting a man of his age to death would amount to cruel and unusual punishment.
A final appeal was still pending before the U.S. Supreme Court at the time of the scheduled execution.
Florida led the nation in executions in 2025, with a total of 47 people put to death across the entire country that year. Alabama, South Carolina, and Texas each carried out five executions, tying for second place behind Florida.
Another execution is already on the calendar in Florida for July 14. Dennis Sochor, also 74, was convicted of killing a woman in the early hours of 1982 after the two met at a New Year’s Eve party.
All executions in Florida are performed using a three-drug lethal injection protocol consisting of a sedative, a paralytic agent, and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections.
