Dusty Ray Spencer was executed by three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke on Thursday and pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m. at age 74. His death made him the oldest inmate executed in Florida's modern history.
He spoke from a metal table with an IV inserted in his arm. Spencer said, "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," and the lethal drugs began flowing immediately after.
Florida's modern history
Florida Department of Correction records dating to 1924 show the oldest inmates previously executed by the state were both 72 years old. Samuel Lee Smithers was executed on Oct. 14, 2025, and R. Charlie Gifford was executed on Feb. 21, 1951. Spencer's execution was the ninth in Florida this year, and Ron DeSantis has overseen more executions in a single year in 2025 than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
The next Florida inmate scheduled for execution is Dennis Sochor, another 74-year-old, on July 14. His case adds another age marker to a year in which the state has moved through executions at a pace that has already surpassed the previous annual record of eight, set in 2014.
Karen Spencer in December
Court records show 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 had started.
On Jan. 18, 1992, Spencer beat Karen Spencer's teenage son with a clothes iron when the boy tried to stop him from attacking his mother. About a week later, the son found Spencer hitting Karen Spencer in the head with a brick, and police found her dead with several stab wounds to the chest.
Florida State Prison
After a few minutes of labored breathing, Spencer ceased all movements. The warden shook Spencer and shouted his name several times before a medic checked his vital signs, after which the execution was completed at Florida State Prison.
The record-setting age and the state's 2025 execution total place Thursday's killing in a narrower frame than the death sentence itself: Spencer's punishment reached its end, while Florida's schedule now points to another 74-year-old inmate next month.
