Aaron Spencer charged with murder after shooting alleged rapist in Arkansas

A travesty of justice is unfolding in Arkansas, but it’s not too late to stop it.

At 1:12 a.m. on October 8, 2024, Aaron Spencer and his wife woke up to find their 13-year-old daughter was not in her bed. While Spencer’s wife called 911, Spencer jumped in his vehicle and drove off into the night, desperate to find any sign of his missing child. She hadn’t gone far when she saw Michael Fosler’s truck with his daughter inside.

Fosler was no stranger to the Spencers. In July of that year, Fosler allegedly raped Spencer’s daughter, resulting in him being charged with 43 counts, including sexual assault of a minor, online stalking of a child, and possession of child pornography. Lonoke County prosecutors handled the case, leaving it on Circuit Judge Barbara Elmore’s desk. It’s a little unclear who dropped the ball—Lonoke County, Judge Elmore, or a combination of both—but what we know for sure is that this dangerous child abuser was released from custody on a $5,000 bond with a no-contact order in place to prevent further exploitation of Spencer’s daughter. Then October 8 came and neither the bail nor the no-contact order were worth the paper they were printed on.

Spencer’s actions at that moment were nothing short of heroic. Armed with a firearm, he ran Fosler’s truck off the road and ordered him to release his daughter. Instead, Fosler fought back and the struggle ended with Spencer discharging his firearm into Fosler. Spencer then rescued her daughter from the truck and called 911.

ARMY VETERINARY FATHER RUNS ON BEHALF OF SHERIFF WHEN ACCUSED OF SHOOTING HIS DAUGHTER’S ALLEGED SEXUAL PREDATOR

Spencer should never have been in this situation. He shouldn’t have had to save his daughter from a monster. But he was put in this situation because elected local prosecutors and judges failed him. Surprisingly, not only did the prosecution not take responsibility for what happened; Aaron charged Spencer with second-degree murder. And wouldn’t you know it, the judge in the case was none other than Circuit Judge Barbara Elmore.

Judge Elmore took immediate action to conceal this incident from the public; He placed a gag order on anyone connected with the case in any way, preventing them from speaking to the press or the public about the case under penalty of contempt of court. Speech orders aren’t that unusual, but this speech ban was so broad and offensive that the Arkansas Supreme Court stepped in and declared it unconstitutional, concluding that it was “a plain, plain, obvious, and grave abuse of discretion and overreach.”

Judge Elmore was determined. Despite each defendant’s constitutional right to a public hearing, he essentially closed the case to the public; greatly limited the seats available to the public, the 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 to justify it. For the people of Arkansas, the problem appeared to be solved. The judge who had once failed Aaron Spencer’s daughter was now determined to ensure that her trial took place as secretly as possible.

Fortunately, the Arkansas Supreme Court stepped in again and overturned the judge’s decision. But they didn’t stop there. The high court took the extraordinary step of removing Judge Elmore from the case. The unconventional solution showed how terrible his behavior had become.

Aaron Spencer was accused of killing a man suspected of targeting his daughter. (Lonoke County Detention Center)

This is the first step towards justice, but it should not be the last. The prosecutor needs to drop this case completely.

The prosecution’s conduct up to this point is not indicative of good judgment. The prosecutors’ statements in this case are not only embarrassing; They should bother the people of Arkansas. Prosecutors argued that Spencer’s angry comments in July, when he learned his daughter had been raped by Fosler, were somehow evidence of his intentions in October. Never mind that such anger would be the natural reaction of any father. And never mind whether Spencer caught and killed Fosler in the weeks or even months that followed; He shot his daughter while saving her from another kidnapping by Fosler.

Prosecutors also argued that Spencer should have called 911 when she saw her daughter in the truck with Fosler. That a father would give up pursuing the person who kidnapped and raped his daughter in the hope that the police would arrive in time to save her is so shockingly absurd that it boggles the mind that any prosecutor tasked with protecting and defending citizens and victims of crime would approve of it.

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But Judge Elmore’s removal and the resulting delay in Spencer’s trial provide an opportunity to put an end to this farce. Local prosecutors should drop this case. The state attorney general must decline to defend any conviction in the unlikely event that the jury returns the conviction. And the governor should promise to do everything in his power to pardon Spencer if necessary. To do otherwise is to subvert justice and leave everyone in Arkansas at the mercy of predators who will victimize them and their children.