MIAMI — A 74-year-old man is set to be put to death Thursday evening for the fatal stabbing of his wife and would become the oldest Florida inmate executed in modern times if the death sentence is carried out as planned.
Dusty Ray Spencer is scheduled to receive a three-drug injection starting at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke for his conviction in the 1992 killing of his wife Karen.
Florida Department of Corrections records dating to 1924 show the oldest state inmates to be executed 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 death of a state representative, Charles Schuh Jr.
Nationwide, the oldest person 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.
If carried out, Spencer’s execution would be 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 reinstated in 1976. The previous record was set in 2014 with eight executions.
Another 74-year-old Florida inmate, Dennis Sochor, is set to be executed July 14. He was convicted of killing a woman just hours into 1982 after meeting her at a New Year’s Eve party.
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 first-degree murder, attempted first-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 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.
On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the inmate’s late appeal without comment.
Spencer awoke at 5:30 a.m. and remained compliant, Corrections spokesman Jordan Kirkland said at a news conference. Spencer had a visit from a spiritual adviser and was given a meal of pizza, french fries and a milkshake.
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 last year.
All Florida executions are carried out by injecting a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.
