Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a death warrant for Dusty Ray Spencer, the Orange County man convicted in the 1992 killing of his wife, Karen Spencer. The order calls for the 74-year-old to be executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Starke during an execution window set for late June. Spencer has spent more than three decades on death row after a series of appeals and resentencings.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, DeSantis signed the warrant yesterday, scheduling Spencer’s execution for June 25, with an execution window running through July 2. The Sentinel reports that this is DeSantis’s 10th death warrant of 2026. The warrant designates Florida State Prison in Starke as the site of the execution.
Background on the Case
Court records and appellate opinions show that Spencer was convicted of first-degree murder for the January 1992 backyard killing of his wife. He was initially sentenced to death in December 1992, but that sentence was later vacated. According to subsequent court rulings, he was resentenced to death on January 18, 1995. As outlined in Spencer v. State, the case has generated a long history of appeals and post-conviction filings that have kept it before both state and federal courts. The trial judge’s description of the killing as especially cruel appears in the record and has played a recurring role in the case’s appellate history.
What Comes Next
Defense attorneys can still pursue stays and file last-minute appeals in Florida’s courts and, if necessary, in federal court. The execution window is designed to give judges time to consider and rule on those efforts. If courts decline to grant relief, the Florida Department of Corrections is directed to carry out the death sentence by lethal injection during the specified window. In recent years, similar death warrants have triggered waves of new filings and clemency requests, and legal observers expect Spencer’s team to pursue every remaining option before the June window opens.
