Dusty Ray Spencer, a 74 year old man convicted of killing his wife, was executed Thursday, June 25, 2026, at Florida State Prison near Starke.
Spencer was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m. after a three drug lethal injection.
His execution made him the oldest person put to death in Florida’s modern death penalty era.
Before the lethal drugs began, the warden asked Spencer if he had a final statement.
Spencer apologized to the family and spoke a short religious message. A spiritual adviser stood near him inside the death chamber.
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office said there were no complications. Karen Spencer’s family did not release a statement after the execution.
Spencer was convicted in the 1992 stabbing death of his wife, Karen Spencer.
Court records show he had been arrested in December 1991 after choking and threatening her. While in jail, he called her and warned that he would finish what he had started when he got out.
On January 18, 1992, officials said Spencer attacked Karen Spencer’s teenage son with a clothes iron when the boy tried to stop him from hurting his mother.
About a week later, the teen found Spencer attacking Karen Spencer outside their home. When police arrived, they found her dead with several stab wounds to the chest.
Spencer was first sentenced to death in 1992 after convictions for first degree murder, attempted first degree murder, aggravated assault and aggravated battery.
The Florida Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing in 1994 after finding that the trial court mishandled the review of aggravating and mitigating factors.
Spencer was resentenced to death in 1995. His later appeals were denied.
His lawyers argued in recent appeals that his age and health problems, including liver disease, created a greater risk of pain and suffering. The Florida Supreme Court rejected those claims last week, and the U.S. Supreme Court denied a final appeal Thursday without comment.
Spencer was the ninth person executed in Florida in 2026, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
The group’s execution list says Spencer was the 16th prisoner executed in the United States this year.
Florida carried out a record 19 executions in 2025. It was the highest number of executions in one year for any Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
Another 74 year old Florida inmate, Dennis Sochor, is scheduled to be executed on July 14, 2026.
Sochor was convicted of killing a woman after meeting her at a New Year’s Eve party in 1982.
Nationally, the oldest person executed in modern U.S. history was Walter Leroy Moody Jr., who was 83 when Alabama executed him in 2018.