Overview
- Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant for 74-year-old Dusty Ray Spencer on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, and the office counted it as his tenth death warrant of the year.
- The warrant schedules a lethal-injection execution to begin June 25 with a formal window that runs from noon June 25 through noon July 2 and identifies Florida State Prison in Stark as the site.
- Spencer was convicted of first-degree murder in November 1992 and was resentenced to death after appellate review in 1995 for the brutal killing of his wife, which court records say was witnessed in part by her teenage son.
- The execution date could change if courts grant a stay or order further review, a possibility underscored by recent stays in other Florida cases that paused executions for DNA or legal review.
- The warrant comes as Florida has increased executions, carrying out a record number in 2025 and several so far in 2026, leaving 244 people on state death row and drawing criticism from rights groups and scrutiny of the system's human effects.