Florida executes Dusty Ray Spencer

74-year-old man becomes oldest inmate executed in modern Florida history

A 74-year-old man convicted of fatally stabbing his wife became the oldest person executed in Florida’s modern history on Thursday, and the state is scheduled to execute another 74-year-old inmate next month.

Dusty Ray Spencer was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m. following a 3-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. Spencer was convicted of the 1992 stabbing death of his wife Karen.

The curtain to the death chamber went up promptly at the 6 p.m. execution time, and the warden asked Spencer if he had any statement as he lay strapped to a metal table with an IV inserted in his arm.

“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, a spiritual adviser nearby at the foot of the table.

Hours before his execution, his spiritual advisor read a longer, prepared statement from Spencer.

"I'm so grateful for the transformation that Christ has brought about in my life. No, I'm not the man I once was. Words cannot express how sorry I am for what I did to Karen. I make no excuses. What I did was wrong and I've carried it every day," Spencer's statement read.

In January 1992, Spencer stabbed his wife, Karen, and beat her with a brick at their home off Clarcona-Ocoee Road. Just a month after he was arrested and released for choking and threatening her. Karen’s son, Tim, tried to intervene, but Karen did not survive.

Tim spoke with reportere after Spencer was sentenced in the 1990s.

"I'm very happy about it," Tim said of the sentencing.

When asked if he felt sorry for Spencer, he said, "No. Not at all. He gets what he deserves."

Karen’s family declined to comment Thursday.

In his final statement, Spencer addressed Tim directly.

"Timothy, I made you carry what no child should. I'm ashamed of what I did to you. I'm sorry," Spencer's statement read.

Immediately after Spencer's last words, the lethal drugs began flowing, and, after a few minutes of labored breathing, Spencer ceased all movements.

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, in the office of Gov. Ron DeSantis, told The Associated Press in a text message that there were no complications. He had no immediate response to further phone and text messages seeking comment about the ages of the inmate executed Thursday and the next one facing execution.

The family of the victim released no statement.

Florida Department of Correction records dating to 1924 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 scheduled 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 9th 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 8 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 had started.

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 1st-degree murder, attempted 1st-degree murder, aggravated assault, and aggravated battery. In 1994, the Florida Supreme Court ordered his 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 were denied.

Last week, the state Supreme Court rejected Spencer’s appeals. His attorneys had argued that he had health issues such as liver disease that posed a heightened risk of pain and suffering. They also argued that executing him at his advanced age would constitute cruel and unusual punishment.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a final appeal earlier Thursday without comment.

All Florida executions are carried out by the lethal injection of a sedative, a paralytic, and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.

—Spencer becomes the 9th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Florida and the 134th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on May 25, 1979.

—Spencer becomes the 16th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1,679th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977, just 6 months after the US Supreme Court allowed executions to resume via its July 2, 1976, Gregg v. Georgia decision.

Source: The Associated Press, Staff, Rick Halperin; News outlets, June 25, 2026

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde

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