PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – A sentencing hearing began Friday for a man who pleaded guilty to stabbing his ex-girlfriend 17 times outside of a Ponte Vedra Beach restaurant in June 2023.
WATCH: News4JAX is streaming the sentencing hearing live. Press play above to watch.
The attack left then-17-year-old Madison Schemitz partially paralyzed, but her remarkable recovery had her walking across the stage at her graduation just under a year later.
Schemitz’s mother and a bystander who tried to help them were also injured in the assault, and Spencer Pearson was charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder with a weapon and aggravated battery causing serious injury with a weapon.
Pearson attempted to slash his own throat in the domestic violence attack.
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Pearson, who was 18 at the time of the crime, was initially scheduled to be sentenced about a month ago, but his attorneys got the hearing pushed back so he could be tested for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, also known as CTE.
In court filings, Pearson’s attorneys said they had recently learned that new science shows signs of CTE can be detected in brain scans for living subjects, including in young athletes.
On Oct. 18, a week before Pearson was set to be sentenced, his attorneys asked the court to push it back, writing, “An underlying issue in the case is whether Defendant’s suffering repetitive head impacts (RHI) over the course of him playing tackle football from the ages of 6 through 18 causes him to suffer from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).”
Forensic psychologist Dr. Justin D’Arienzo explained how CTE works.
“It is a progressive neurodegenerative brain disorder due to repeated injuries to the brain, and it can happen in sports and the military,” he said. “Usually, we’re talking about repeated head injuries, and as a result, there are behavioral and cognitive changes that occur.”
Changes can include increased aggression, impulsivity, and as the disease progresses, more cognitive difficulties.
D’Arienzo said CTE can contribute to criminality.
Pearson’s attorneys cited a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Neurology in 2023 examining the donated brains of 152 deceased contact sport athletes under the age of 30. The study found 41% of them had CTE, and most of them played at the high school and college levels. Their sports included football, ice hockey, rugby, soccer, and wrestling. The most common cause of their death was suicide, the study said.
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“I believe in this case because we’re waiting on sentencing, they’re going to use this to mitigate, to reduce the sentence, to show that this gentleman may have had a series of head injuries that led to the CTE that then led to him being impulsive and irrational and having this very aggressive outburst and that and that, if he never would have had that CTE, he never would have acted in this manner,” D’Arienzo said.
The results of Pearson’s CTE testing have not been released but are expected to be discussed during Friday’s hearing.
Resources
If you or someone you know is or has been a victim of domestic violence or abuse, here’s a list of other resources available:
- The Florida Domestic Violence Hotline, which will direct you to the nearest shelter, is 1-800-500-1119.
- The National Domestic Violence Hotline is open 24 hours a day. The number is 1-800-799-SAFE.
- Hubbard House (Duval, Baker counties): 24/7 hotline is 904-354-3114 and Text line at 904-210-3698.
- The Micah’s Place (Nassau County) Domestic Violence Help Hotline is 904-225-9979.
- The Quigley House (Clay County) hotline is 904-284-0061.
- The Betty Griffin Center (St. Johns County) can be reached at 904-824-1555.