Star athlete who knocked down his girlfriend and then himself still bears the scars in court – now he has been sentenced to life in prison

The former star athlete who stabbed his ex-girlfriend and her mother in a frenzied attack in a Florida parking lot last summer — before slitting his own throat — still bore the scars from his suicide attempt when he appeared in court for his sentencing.

Spencer Ross Pearson, 20, was given a life sentence Friday after pleading guilty in July to attempted murder and aggravated battery charges.

His family blamed head trauma he suffered as a high school football player.

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

The then 18-year-old stalked Schemitz. She was paralyzed from the chest down during the attack, The Florida Times-Union reported.

Surveillance video of the attack shows the mother and daughter trying to leave the restaurant as Pearson follows them, eventually rushing to Schemitz and stabbing her fifteen times. Roge tried to fight off her daughter’s attacker and was stabbed in the forehead and leg.

A bystander who intervened was also stabbed, but was able to stop the attack.

Pearson then slit his neck before being taken into custody.

Both Schemitz and Pearson, as well as both their parents, testified during the emotionally charged sentencing.

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

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

Schemitz later added: “Your Honor, a 17-year-old girl should not have to know the feeling of being stabbed. Your Honor, I shouldn’t have to remember the feeling of having my body stabbed with the knife again and again. … I remember the moment I realized I was paralyzed. I remember struggling to breathe and form words.

Pearson also took the stand to apologize, telling the court he had “hurt three innocent people.”

“Every second of every day I think about my terrible crimes. It’s constantly on my mind and this will never change. … I can’t imagine what I did to them and the negative effects I had on everyone involved. I understand the anger and hatred they all have for 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 found their son trying to commit suicide after he and Schemitz broke up.

The distraught father apologized to all three victims and told his son’s ex-girlfriend: ‘Madison, you were always so sweet… you were such a beautiful person to be around. You were 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 an MRI of Pearson showed evidence of multiple head injuries, similar to what an NFL player might suffer, and said his violent act would be more likely because of his brain injury.

Meanwhile, Schemitz’s mother took the stand, telling Pearson that he “imposed a life sentence on Madison on June 3, 2023, and it seems only fitting that you receive the same.”

While Pearson’s defense team asked for 12 years in prison, followed by 15 years of supervision and mental health treatment, Judge R. Lee Smith decided on a harsher sentence.

“On June 3, 2023, the events that occurred that afternoon were horrific,” Smith said. “This defendant launched a vicious attack on a 17-year-old girl … who had done her part to save his life just weeks earlier when he attempted suicide. He violently and viciously attacked the same person who tried to save his life.”

The judge noted that the lasting impact of Pearson’s crimes would make “any deviation below the (sentencing) guidelines inappropriate.”