The former star athlete who stabbed his ex-girlfriend and her mother in a frenzied parking lot rampage in Florida last summer – before slitting his own throat – still bore the scars of an attempted suicide when he appeared in court for sentencing.
Spencer Ross Pearson, 20, was handed a life sentence on Friday after pleading guilty to attempted murder and aggravated battery charges in July.
His family blamed the head trauma he suffered as a high school football star for the attack.
Pearson was arrested in June 2023 after stabbing his ex-girlfriend Madison Schemitz, then 17, and her mother, Jaclyn Roge, as well as people who tried to intervene outside a Ponte Vedra Beach restaurant.
The 18-year-old has followed Schemitz. He was paralyzed from the chest down during the attack, The Florida Times-Union reported.
Surveillance video of the attack showed the mother and daughter trying to leave the restaurant as Pearson followed them, eventually rushing toward Schemitz and stabbing her 15 times. Roge tried to fight off her daughter’s attacker, and was stabbed in the forehead and leg.
A bystander who intervened was also cut down but managed to stop the attack.
Pearson then cut his throat before being arrested.
Both Schemitz and Pearson, as well as their parents, testified during an emotional sentencing.
During his testimony, Schemitz said he had been thinking about this moment since the horrific attack.
“June 3rd 2023 was without a doubt the worst and most traumatic day of my life. And I remember every second of it,” he read.
Schemitz then added: “Well, a 17-year-old girl shouldn’t know what it feels like to be stabbed. To you, I can’t remember the feeling of my body being stabbed repeatedly. … I remember when I realized I was paralyzed. I remember struggling to breathe and formulate words.
Pearson also apologized, telling the court that he “tortured three innocent people.”
“I think about the crimes that have been committed every second of every day. It is in my mind constantly and this will not change. … I cannot imagine what I have done and the negative effect I have had on everyone. I understand the anger and hatred of people- he told me,” he said.
Pearson’s father, Daniel Pearson, testified about the football-related head injuries his son suffered over the years, and how he and his wife discovered his son was trying to kill himself after he and Schemitz broke up.
The distraught father apologized to the three victims, telling his son’s ex-girlfriend, “Madison, you’re so sweet … you’re so beautiful. You’re so good to our family. I’m so sorry this happened to you. I think about you every day, I praying for you every day. You’re a beautiful person. I’m sorry.”
A doctor testified in court that an MRI of Pearson showed evidence of multiple head injuries similar to what an NFL player might have suffered and said violent behavior would have been more likely due to a brain injury.
Meanwhile, Schemitz’s mother took the stand to tell Pearson that she was giving “Madison a life sentence on June 3, 2023, and it’s only fair that you get the same.”
While Pearson’s defense team sought 12 years in prison, followed by 15 years of supervision and mental health counseling, Judge R. Lee Smith decided on a harsher sentence.
“June 3, 2023, the events that occurred that evening were horrific,” Smith said. “This defendant launched a vicious attack on a 17-year-old girl … who only a few weeks earlier had done her part to save her life in a suicide attempt. The very same person who tried to save her life, he was attacked in a brutal and brutal manner.”
The judge noted that the lasting impact of Pearson’s crimes would make “a deviation below the (legal) guidelines inappropriate.”
