An Arkansas judge has thrown out a murder case against an Army veteran and sheriff candidate who admitted shooting the man accused of sexually abusing his teenage daughter — after law enforcement lost critical evidence that may have captured the deadly confrontation.
Special Circuit Judge Ralph Wilson Jr. on Thursday dismissed second-degree murder charges against Aaron Spencer, a Republican nominee for sheriff in Lonoke County, ruling that investigators’ handling of key evidence was so egregious it deprived Spencer of a fair trial.
Spencer, 37, was facing trial later this month for the October 2024 shooting death of 67-year-old Michael Fosler.
Fosler wasn’t just any victim.
Court records cited by Fox News reportedly show Fosler had already been charged with numerous sexual offenses involving Spencer’s daughter and was free on bond when the fatal encounter unfolded.
According to prosecutors, Spencer awoke in the early morning hours of Oct. 8, 2024, to discover his then-13-year-old daughter was missing. He eventually located her riding in Fosler’s vehicle, pursued the truck, forced it off the road, and shot Fosler before calling 911.
Spencer never denied pulling the trigger.
Instead, he argued he was acting to protect his child from a man already accused of preying on her.
The case took a dramatic turn when Spencer’s attorneys uncovered that a dash-camera memory card that may have recorded the encounter had disappeared while in the custody of the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office.
According to court filings, the detective overseeing the investigation failed to properly log the evidence and later lost the SD card entirely. Defense attorneys argued the footage could have supported Spencer’s claim that he was trying to rescue his daughter from danger.
Judge Wilson agreed the loss of the evidence fatally damaged Spencer’s ability to defend himself.
“The court finds that conduct by law enforcement was so egregious that dismissal of this case is warranted,” Wilson wrote in his ruling.
The extraordinary dismissal comes after months of controversy surrounding the prosecution.
Earlier this year, the Arkansas Supreme Court removed the original judge overseeing the case and appointed Wilson to take over.
Meanwhile, Spencer transformed his legal battle into a political campaign.
Running on a platform centered on law-and-order reform and child protection, Spencer defeated the incumbent sheriff in the Republican primary earlier this year. He has repeatedly argued that his family’s ordeal exposed deep failures within the justice system.
“Through my own fight for justice, I have seen firsthand the failures in law enforcement and in our circuit court,” Spencer said during his campaign.
With the murder charge now dismissed, Spencer remains on the ballot for November’s general election.
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