Spencer Pearson shows scars from stabbing Madison Shemitz, sentenced to life in prison

The former star athlete who stabbed his ex-girlfriend and her mother to death last summer in a violent attack in a Florida parking lot and then slashed his own throat still bore the scars of his suicide attempt when he appeared in court for sentencing.

Spencer Ross Pearson, 20, was sentenced to life in prison on Friday after pleading guilty in July to attempted murder and aggravated battery charges.

His family blamed the attack on a head injury he suffered as a high school football star.

Pearson was arrested in June 2023 after stabbing his ex-girlfriend Madison Shemitz, then 17, and her mother Jacqueline Roge, as well as a bystander who tried to intervene outside a Ponte Vedra Beach restaurant.

The then 18-year-old pursued Shemitz. The attack left her paralyzed from the chest down, The Florida Times-Union reported.

Surveillance video of the attack shows the mother and daughter attempting to leave the restaurant as Pearson follows them, eventually rushing toward Shemitz and stabbing her 15 times. Rodge tried to fight off her daughter’s attacker and was stabbed in the forehead and leg.

A passerby who intervened was also injured but was able to stop the attack.

Pearson then cut his own neck before being taken into custody.

Both Shemitz and Pearson, as well as both of their parents, testified during the emotional sentencing.

During her testimony, Shemitz said she had been thinking about that moment since the horrific attack.

“June 3, 2023 was without a doubt the worst and most traumatic day of my life. And I remember every second of it,” she read.

Shemitz later added: “Your Honor, a 17-year-old girl does not need to experience the feeling of being stabbed. Your Honor, I won’t have to remember the feeling of the knife in my body over and over again. … I remember the moment when I realized that I was paralyzed. I remember struggling to breathe and formulate words.”

Pearson also apologized, telling the court he had “harmed three innocent people.”

“I think about my terrible crimes committed every second of every day. I think about it all the time and it will never, ever change. … I can’t imagine what they had to go through and the negative impact I had on everyone involved. I understand the anger and hatred they all feel towards me,” he said.

Pearson’s father, Daniel Pearson, spoke about the football-related head injuries his son suffered over the years and how he and his wife discovered their son had attempted suicide after he and Shemitz separated .

The distraught father apologized to all three victims, telling his son’s ex-girlfriend: “Madison, you were always so sweet… you were such a wonderful person to be around. You have been so good to our family. I’m sorry this happened to you. I think about you every day, I pray for you every day. You are a sweet soul, you are a beautiful person, I know that. I’m sorry.”

Doctors who testified told the court that Pierson’s MRI revealed evidence of multiple head injuries similar to those an NFL player might have suffered and said his violent act was more likely due to brain injuries.

Meanwhile, Shemitz’s mother told Pearson that he “sentenced Madison to life in prison on June 3, 2023, and it seems only fitting that you receive the same.”

While Pearson’s defense team had sought a 12-year prison sentence 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 unfolded that day were horrific,” Smith said. “This defendant carried out a brutal attack on a 17-year-old girl… who just weeks earlier had played her part in trying to save his life when he attempted suicide. He brutally and viciously attacked the same person who tried to save his life.”

The judge noted that the long-term consequences of Pearson’s crimes would make “any deviation from the (sentencing) guidelines inappropriate.”