Florida authorities executed Dusty Ray Spencer, a man sentenced to death for murdering his wife, in the ninth application of the death penalty in the state so far this year, after reaching a historical record of 19 executions in 2025.

Spencer, a 74-year-old veteran of the United States Marine Corps, received the lethal injection at 6:10 p.m. local time at the Florida State Prison in Raiford, according to the execution order signed in May by Governor Ron DeSantis.

The convicted man was found guilty of the murder of his wife, Karen Spencer, which occurred in Orange County, central Florida. According to prosecutors, he attacked her with a brick and a knife after threatening to kill her.

The crime was witnessed by the victim's 17-year-old son, who tried to prevent his stepfather's attack without success.

Spencer's lawyers maintained during the court process that it was a crime of passion, while the prosecution argued that the murder had been premeditated.

The man committed the murder shortly after being released from jail on bail for a previous incident involving his wife.

Florida has 265 death row inmates

The 'sunshine state' has become one of the most active in the country in the application of the death penalty.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the United States recorded 47 executions in 2025, compared to 25 in 2024, an increase largely attributed to Florida, responsible for 19 of those cases, equivalent to 40% of the national total.

Spencer became the oldest person executed in modern Florida history. Another 74-year-old convict, Dennis Sochor, also has an execution date scheduled soon.

This is the ninth execution this year in Florida under the DeSantis administration, which has accelerated the pace of capital punishment in the state.

Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 in the United States, Florida's annual limit was eight executions, reached in 1984 and 2014.

With information from EFE.