Quote:

---

On the night of the shooting in October 2024, Spencer woke up to find the girl missing from her bedroom, left in his truck searching for her and found her in the passenger seat of a vehicle Fosler was driving, court documents show. Spencer forced Fosler's truck off the highway and, after an altercation, called 911 to report he had shot the man, records show.

Spencer's attorneys, Erin Cassinelli and Michael Kaiser, maintain their client acted within the law to protect his child from a predator.

"We believe it is clear that Aaron was justified under Arkansas law in taking action to protect his daughter and himself, and we believe that will be apparent at trial," Cassinelli wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

---

Quote:

---

Aaron Spencer defeated Lonoke County Sheriff John Staley in Tuesday's primary elections, according to unofficial results posted by the Arkansas secretary of state. He would not be able to serve if he is convicted of killing Michael Fosler, 67, who at the time was out on bond after being charged with numerous sexual offenses against Spencer's then-13-year-old daughter.

Spencer's attorneys do not deny that he shot and killed Fosler but maintain he acted within the law to protect his child from a predator.

Spencer won more than 53% of the vote with all precincts reporting, according to unofficial results. Staley, whose department arrested Spencer in 2024, conceded the loss.

...

Spencer has pleaded not guilty and is out on bond while awaiting trial, which was originally scheduled to start in January. The trial was delayed after the presiding judge was removed from the case. A new date has not been set.

Court documents show that on the night of the October 2024 shooting, Spencer woke up to find his daughter missing from her bedroom and went searching for her in his truck. He found the girl in the passenger seat of a vehicle Fosler was driving. Spencer forced Fosler's truck off the highway and, after an altercation, called 911 to report he had shot the man, records show.

---

Quote:

---

Spencer still faces that murder charge incompetence from Circuit Court Judge Barbara Elmore caused multiple delays as the state Supreme Court was forced to step in more than once, ultimately removing Elmore from the case entirely and a pre-trial hearing is scheduled for later this month.

---

Quote:

---

At 1:12 a.m. on the morning of Oct. 8, 2024, Aaron Spencer and his wife awoke to find their 13-year-old daughter missing from her bed. Spencer's wife called 911, while Spencer jumped into his vehicle and sped off into the night, desperate to find any trace of his missing child. He hadn't gone far when he spotted the truck of Michael Fosler, with his daughter inside.

Fosler was no stranger to the Spencers. In July of that year, Fosler allegedly raped Spencer's daughter, resulting in his indictment for 43 separate counts including sexual assault of a minor, internet stalking of a child, and possession of child pornography. The Lonoke County prosecutors handled the case, with it landing on the desk of Circuit Judge Barbara Elmore. It's a little unclear who dropped the ballLonoke County, Judge Elmore, or some combination of bothbut what we know for sure is that this dangerous abuser of children was released from custody on a $5,000 bond, with a no contact order in place to prevent further abuse of Spencer's daughter. Then Oct. 8 came, and neither the bond nor the no contact order were worth the paper they were printed on.

Spencer's actions in that moment were nothing short of heroic. He ran Fosler's truck off the road, and firearm in hand, ordered him to release his daughter. Instead, Fosler fought back, and the struggle ended with Spencer emptying his firearm into Fosler. Spencer then rescued his daughter from the truck and called 911.

... But because local elected prosecutors and judges failed him, that was the position he was put in. Astonishingly, the prosecuting attorney not only failed to take any responsibility for what had transpired; he charged Aaron Spencer with second-degree murder. And wouldn't you know it, the judge on the case was none other than Circuit Judge Barbara Elmore.

Judge Elmore immediately took action to hide this affair from the public eye, dropping a gag order on everyone in any way connected with the case, preventing them, on penalty of contempt of court, from speaking with the press or the public about the case. Gag orders are not that unusual, but this gag order was so expansive and so obtrusive that the Arkansas Supreme Court stepped in and declared it unconstitutional, finding that it "was on its face a plain, manifest, clear, and gross abuse of discretion and in excess of its authority."

Judge Elmore was undeterred. Despite the constitutional right every defendant has to a public trial, she essentially closed the trial to the public, greatly limiting the seats available to the public, media, and even Spencer's own defense team. Elmore did this without providing any alternative means of viewing the trial, and without any evidentiary hearing or judicial findings justifying it. For the people of Arkansas, it seemed like the fix was in. The judge who had once failed Aaron Spencer's daughter was now committed to ensuring that his trial would happen in as close to secrecy as she could muster.

...

Statements from the prosecutors in this case are not only embarrassing; they should trouble the people of Arkansas. Prosecutors suggested that Spencer's angry comments from Julywhen he discovered that his daughter had been raped by Foslerwere somehow evidence of his intent in October. Never mind that such anger would be the natural reaction of any father. And never mind that Spencer didn't hunt down Fosler and murder him in the weeks or even months that followed; he shot him while rescuing his daughter from another kidnapping by Fosler.

Prosecutors also suggested that Spencer should have just called 911 when he saw his daughter in the truck with Fosler. That a father should give up the pursuit of his daughter's kidnapper and rapist in the hopes that the police could arrive in time to save her is so astonishingly absurd it boggles the mind that any prosecutor charged with protecting and defending citizens and victims of crimes would countenance it.

---