Lawyers for the Ponte Vedra Beach man who repeatedly stabbed his ex-girlfriend in a restaurant parking are looking to pin the assault on head injuries he sustained from playing football, court records show.
Spencer Pearson was slated for sentencing this Friday before attorney Matthew Kachergus submitted an 11th-hour bid to adjourn the proceeding late last week.
The motion argued that his team needed time to assess whether Pearson sustained chronic traumatic encephalopathy — or CTE — after playing youth and then high school football as a Ponte Vedra Shark from ages 6 to 18.
Prosecutors objected to the gambit — but the judge in the case granted the request and rescheduled Pearson’s sentencing for November 22 at 9 a.m.
In their motion, his attorneys said they “only recently became aware of the ability to detect pathologic abnormalities consistent with CTE in living subjects.”
They requested additional time to acquire brain imaging that could potentially show signs of CTE and “the effect of same on Defendant’s conduct,” court papers state.
The motion cited a 2023 article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that said MRIs were able to detect signs of CTE in living football players.
Assistant State Attorney Jennifer Dunton opposed the request, the motion states.
Pearson pleaded guilty in July to to two counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count of aggravated battery causing serious bodily injury for the June 2023 ambush.
The softball star suffered severe injuries in the attack, which ended only when bystander Kennedy Armstrong intervened and wrenched the assailant off the teen.
The former couple were both athletes at Ponte Vedra High School: Schemitz in softball and Pearson in football.
Schemitz and her mother, Jaclyn Roge, were eating lunch at Mr. Chubby’s Wings in Ponte Vedra Beach when they saw Pearson lurking outside.
They attempted to flee the scene, but were intercepted en route to their car and the assault unfolded.
Pearson, authorities said, had repeatedly stalked and threatened Schemitz prior to the attack.
She was stabbed 17 times and left partially paralyzed after the incident.
Schemitz has since recovered to the point where she walked across her graduation stage to receive her diploma in June.
One Response
The attorneys for Spencer Pearson must of watched recent S1.E5 episode of “Brilliant Minds”. After doctors examined brain of corpse with CTE, doctor found CTE can be detected in living patients.