A 74-year-old death row inmate is set to be put to death Thursday after arguing that his advanced age would make the execution cruel and unusual.
Dusty Ray Spencer is scheduled to receive a three-drug injection at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke for the 1992 stabbing death of his wife Karen.
The execution would mark Florida’s ninth to date this year, following a record 19 executions in 2025. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis oversaw more executions in a single year in 2025 than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was brought back in 1976. The previous record was eight executions set in 2014.
Spencer was arrested after choking and threatening to kill Karen Spencer in December 1991. While in jail, he called his wife and warned her that when he got out, he was going to finish what he started.
Spencer beat his wife’s teenage son with a clothes iron on Jan. 18, 1992, when the boy tried to stop Spencer from attacking his mother. About a week later, the son heard a commotion outside their home and found Spencer hitting his mother in the head with a brick.
The teen tried to shoot Spencer with a rifle but the gun misfired. Spencer then 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.
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.
“Dusty’s legal team is arguing that Florida’s lethal injection protocol is unconstitutional, as there are concerns about the drugs being used and how that will interact with his liver condition,” the Catholic Mobilizing Network, which opposes the death penalty, wrote. “Dusty is 74 years old and would be the oldest person ever executed in Florida. Executing a man of his elderly and frail state would violate the 8th Amendment.”
A final appeal is 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.
