On Friday, Spencer Pearson, a former high school football star, received a life sentence in prison for killing his ex-girlfriend in 2023, stabbing her more than a dozen times, paralyzing her, and then slitting his own throat.
“This court does not impose a sentence based on vengeance,” St. Johns County Circuit Court Judge R. Lee Smith declared. Judge R. Lee Smith declared, “There are just certain crimes that merit the maximum sentence possible… and this court finds that this is one of them.”
After Pearson, 20, pleaded guilty in July to attempted first-degree murder with a weapon and aggravated battery causing serious bodily injury with a weapon, a packed St. Johns County courtroom handed down Smith’s sentence.
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Pearson’s brutal assault left Madison Schemitz, 17, paralyzed and requiring a cane to walk. Last year, her GoFundMe page described her as a “rising senior” at Ponte Verde High School and a “star softball player.”
Pearson stabbed her mother, Jacki Rogé, and a bystander who intervened. Rogé allegedly filed a criminal complaint against him for stalking and harassment less than a week before the near-fatal assault.
According to Smith, Pearson attempted suicide “only weeks earlier,” but Schemitz intervened.
“This defendant launched a vicious attack on a 17-year-old girl who had done nothing but show him love and only weeks earlier had done her part to try to save his life when he attempted suicide,” said the court’s ruling. The defendant violently and viciously attacked the same person who had attempted to save his life.
Pearson’s defense team cited his age, mental health, and lack of criminal history as reasons for Smith to receive a lesser sentence for his crimes, according to local NBC and ABC affiliates WTLV and WJXX, aka First Coast News, but the judge ultimately declined.
Smith informed the jury, “I have taken into account the mitigating circumstances that the defense has effectively presented in this case.
The court accounted for the client’s age, lack of criminal history, and depressive state at the time of the incident. However, the impact of the crime far outweighs any mitigation measures considered by the court.
As the judge read his decision aloud, Pearson’s parents gasped and sobbed from the courtroom gallery, his father repeatedly shouting, “Oh, God!” The judge allowed Pearson, who did not appear to be crying, to hug and say goodbye to them.
“You are sentenced to serve the remainder of your life in prison,” Smith told Pearson, who stared straight ahead with a cold and expressionless expression on his face as his parents sobbed behind him.
The former high school football star had a large scar on his neck from an alleged suicide attempt following the June 2023 attack. During the sentencing, Schemitz stated, “I’ve thought about this day, this moment, and this statement for the last 538 days—living in true torment.”
According to Pearson’s arrest warrant, Schemitz and her mother met some friends at Mr. Chubby’s Wings in Ponte Vedra Beach on June 3, 2023.
Once seated, they noticed Pearson, who was allegedly stalking and harassing Schemitz following a breakup, sitting at a nearby table. According to police, Pearson “charged” Schemitz after following the mother and daughter out of the restaurant to the parking lot.
“The defendant held the juvenile victim with one arm and stabbed her approximately fifteen times,” a witness told investigators.
Rogé attempted to pull Pearson away from her daughter, but in the process, she sustained stab wounds to her forehead and leg.
A random stranger in the parking lot, who intervened and successfully separated Pearson from the pair, also sustained a stab wound.
The arrest warrant states, “After dislodging, the defendant sliced his own throat several times, telling witnesses he was attempting to kill himself.”
Pearson’s family and lawyers later blamed the near-fatal attack on mental health issues, citing head trauma sustained while playing football, which they claimed led to CTE.
The legal team described Pearson as a star athlete who suffered “roughly 10,000” hits during his playing career. During his sentencing, his parents apologized to Schemitz and her mother.
“I’m sorry,” his father said. “I know you’ve had to go through a lot of pain. I apologize for having to deal with all of this. I pray for you to find peace and forgiveness, and I can’t apologize enough. “Y’all do not deserve this.”
