Dusty Ray Spencer, 74, is scheduled to die June 25 for the 1992 murder of his wife, Karen Spencer.
ORLANDO, FL — Florida is preparing to execute 74-year-old Dusty Ray Spencer on June 25, more than three decades after he was convicted of murdering his wife, Karen Spencer, outside their Orange County home.
The scheduled execution has put Spencer’s case back before the public at a time when Florida is moving quickly through death warrants and opponents are challenging the state’s use of lethal injection. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Spencer’s warrant May 26, setting a 6 p.m. execution at Florida State Prison near Starke. If carried out, Spencer would be the oldest person executed in Florida history.
Spencer was convicted in 1992 of first-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery and attempted second-degree murder. The case grew from a violent breakup with Karen Spencer, his wife and business partner. Court records say she asked him to move out in December 1991. During an argument over money from their painting business, Spencer choked and hit her, then threatened to kill her. Police arrested him after Karen Spencer reported the attack. The next day, while he was in jail, he called her and said he would finish what he had started once he got out. Florida courts later cited that history as part of the record that led to the death sentence.
The fatal attack came Jan. 18, 1992. Karen Spencer’s teenage son, Timothy Johnson, woke to a commotion and found Spencer attacking his mother in the backyard. Johnson tried to stop him with a rifle, but the gun misfired, court records say. He struck Spencer with the rifle butt and then ran to a neighbor’s home for help. Police found Karen Spencer dead when they arrived. A medical examiner said she had been stabbed four or five times in the chest, cut on her face and arms, and hit in the head. Her defensive wounds showed she tried to protect herself. The court said death was caused by blood loss from two stab wounds to the heart and lung.
A jury recommended death by a 7-5 vote. The trial court imposed the sentence, but the Florida Supreme Court later ordered the judge to reconsider because of errors in the weighing of aggravating and mitigating factors. The trial court again sentenced Spencer to death, and the state Supreme Court upheld that sentence in 1996. The court found two aggravating factors, including a prior violent felony based on the same case and that the killing was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel. It also noted mitigation, including mental or emotional disturbance, impaired judgment, alcohol and drug abuse, childhood sexual abuse, honorable military service and a good work record.
The case also became part of Florida’s domestic violence history. Before the killing, Spencer had been jailed after the earlier attack on Karen Spencer and had made a threat from jail. Reports on the case say lawmakers later used the murder as a reason to strengthen domestic violence laws. That history now gives the debate two sharp edges. Supporters of the sentence point to the violence that led to Karen Spencer’s death and the long court record that upheld the conviction. Opponents point to Spencer’s age, illness, military service and the divided jury vote, saying the state is carrying out a sentence from an earlier legal era.
Spencer’s latest appeal focused on two claims. His lawyers argued that Florida’s lethal injection process could create a risk of needless pain, especially because of his medical condition, including cirrhosis. They also argued that executing him at 74 would violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. On June 18, the Florida Supreme Court rejected both arguments and denied a stay. The court said Spencer’s claims were too late and did not meet the legal standard for relief. On the age claim, the court said no U.S. Supreme Court decision has created a categorical ban on executing elderly prisoners.
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty has described Spencer as an elderly, seriously ill Marine Corps veteran who has spent more than 34 years on death row. The group said five jurors wanted life in prison and that a 7-5 recommendation would not be enough for a death sentence under current Florida law. Catholic Mobilizing Network and other death penalty opponents also have called for clemency. The governor’s warrant remains in place, and the execution window runs from noon June 25 through noon July 2. No clemency decision changing that schedule had been announced as of Monday.
The next milestone is the June 25 execution date at Florida State Prison. Spencer’s lawyers may continue seeking last-minute relief, but the state Supreme Court’s latest order left the warrant in effect.
Author note: Last updated June 22, 2026.