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Thread: Dusty Ray Spencer - Florida Death Row

  1. #1
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    Dusty Ray Spencer - Florida Death Row




    Summary of Offense:

    Dusty Spencer was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of his wife, Karen Spencer. Karen Spencer asked her husband, Dusty Spencer, to move out of their home early in December 1991. On December 10, 1991, Dusty Spencer questioned Karen about money that she had withdrawn from the banking account for their painting business. This argument led to a physical altercation in which Dusty choked, hit, and threatened to kill Karen. Karen called the police, and the police subsequently arrested Dusty. Dusty later called and threatened Karen from jail. Karen Spencer requested that Dusty Spencer spend the holidays at their home, but asked him to leave after Christmas. On New Year’s Day, Dusty told friends that he had considered throwing Karen off of his boat, in order to drown her.

    On January 4, 1992, Dusty Spencer again went to Karen’s home, and they fought. During the fight, Timothy Johnson, Karen’s son awoke, and went into his mother’s bedroom where Dusty and Karen Spencer were fighting. According to Johnson, Dusty was on top of Karen and was hitting her with a clothes iron. When Johnson intervened, Dusty hit him with the clothes iron as Johnson retreated to his bedroom. Karen fled the home to find help. Johnson tried to call for help, but Dusty Spencer pulled the phone out of the wall. Dusty then fled the house and left town. Karen Spencer and Timothy Johnson were taken to the hospital, and a physician confirmed that Karen’s wounds were consistent with being struck by a clothes iron.

    On November 18, 1992, Timothy Johnson heard fighting in the backyard. He retrieved a firearm from his mother’s bedroom and went outside. Once outside, Johnson saw Dusty Spencer hitting his mother with a brick. He also observed blood on Karen Spencer’s face. Johnson reported that he tried to shoot Dusty Spencer, but the firearm misfired. Thus, he hit Spencer in the head with the butt of the firearm. Dusty then pulled up Karen’s nightgown and made lewd comments and slammed Karen’s head against a concrete wall. Karen was begging Dusty to stop, and Johnson tried to help his mother get away from Dusty. Dusty threatened Johnson with a knife; therefore, Johnson ran to a neighbor’s home to find help. The police were called, and upon arrival, they found the dead body of Karen Spencer. The police determined that she had been stabbed four or five times in the chest. She also had suffered blunt force trauma to the head and defensive cuts to the hands and arms.

    Spencer was sentenced to death in Orange County on December 21, 1992.

  2. #2
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Spencer was denied a Certificate of Appealabilty by the US Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals on June 22, 2010.

    Opinion is here:

    http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/ops/200616503.pdf

    In today's US Supreme Court orders, Spencer's petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis was DENIED.

  3. #3
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Death Row inmates seek new sentences

    Prosecutor files papers to keep inmate's death sentence

    By Mike DeForest
    WKMG Orlando News

    ORLANDO, Fla. - Less than two hours before State Attorney Aramis Ayala held a news conference announcing her office’s opposition to the death penalty, one of Ayala’s prosecutors filed papers in Orange County circuit court trying to keep an inmate on Florida’s Death Row.

    Dusty Ray Spencer, who was convicted of stabbing his wife to death in 1991, is among 22 inmates from Orange and Osceola counties currently awaiting lethal injection in the state’s death chamber.

    At least 14 of those death row inmates, including Spencer, have recently filed motions in circuit court attempting to get their death sentences overturned. Most cite recent U.S. and Florida Supreme Court rulings that require unanimous jury recommendations in death sentences handed down since June 2002.

    Ayala’s office is awaiting a mandate from Florida’s Supreme Court detailing how it should proceed with any death sentences deemed unconstitutional, according to a state attorney spokeswoman.

    However, Ayala’s office has argued in the court papers that the recent Supreme Court rulings do not apply in some of the death row inmates’ cases, including Spencer’s.

    “Spencer’s successive post conviction motion is without merit and summary denial is appropriate,” Assistant State Attorney Kenneth Nunnelley and Senior Assistant Attorney General Scott Browne wrote in a March 1 motion opposing Spencer’s attempt to vacate his death sentence.

    On Thursday, about 90 minutes before Ayala announced her decision not to pursue death penalty cases, Nunnelley filed additional papers in Spencer’s case in support of the state’s position that Spencer’s death sentence should stand.

    A representative of Ayala’s office said she could not immediately answer questions about how the state attorney would address attempts by Spencer and other condemned inmates to be moved off Death Row.

    http://www.clickorlando.com/news/inv...-new-sentences
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  4. #4
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    DUSTY RAY SPENCER v STATE OF FLORIDA

    In today's Florida Supreme Court opinions, the court AFFIRMED the circuit court’s order summarily denying Spencer’s successive motion for postconviction relief.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  5. #5
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court declined to review Spencer's petition for certiorari.

    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of Florida
    Case Numbers: (SC17-1269)
    Decision Date: November 8, 2018
    Rehearing Denied: December 13, 2018
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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