Arkansas Sheriff Nominee Cleared of Murder Charge in Controversial Case Involving Daughter’s Alleged Abuser

A murder charge against an Arkansas man, who secured the GOP nomination for sheriff while awaiting trial, has been dismissed. The man was accused of shooting his teenage daughter’s alleged abuser.

On Thursday, Special Circuit Court Judge Ralph Wilson Jr. dropped the case against Aaron Spencer. The decision came just weeks before Spencer’s trial on a second-degree murder charge was set to begin. The dismissal was due to the loss of a dash camera memory card by law enforcement, which might have recorded the shooting incident.

In March, Spencer defeated a three-term incumbent sheriff to win the GOP nomination in Lonoke County, a community with around 76,000 residents. Notably, it was this sheriff’s office that had initially charged him with murder.

“The court finds that conduct by law enforcement was so egregious that dismissal of this case is warranted,” Judge Wilson stated in his ruling.

Spencer’s attorneys did not deny that he shot and killed Michael Fosler, 67, in 2024. At the time, Fosler was out on bond after being charged with dozens of sexual offenses against Spencer’s then-13-year-old daughter. 

Court documents show that on the night of the shooting, Spencer had woken up to find his daughter missing, and later found the girl in the passenger seat of a vehicle Fosler was driving. Spencer forced Fosler’s truck off the road and, after an altercation, called 911 to report he had shot the man.

Prosecutors said Spencer planned the killing and that he could have called police while pursuing Fosler. But Spencer pleaded not guilty and maintained he acted to protect his child from a predator.

Spencer said in a statement Thursday that the support from the community “carried our family.”  

“Neighbors here in Lonoke County, people from every part of Arkansas, and folks I’ve never met from around the world reached out, prayed for us, and refused to stay quiet,” Spencer said. “When I couldn’t speak for myself, you spoke for me. I’ll never be able to thank you the way you deserve, but I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to live up to it.” 

Spencer’s attorney, Erin Cassinelli, said she is thankful for the court’s decision.

“No member of this family should ever again be forced to walk into a courtroom and relive this horror,” she said in a statement. “This father should have never been charged for protecting his child.”

Lonoke County Prosecuting Attorney Chuck Graham did not immediately return messages Thursday seeking comment on the decision.

Spencer’s attorneys filed the motion seeking to have the case dismissed, contending that video and audio of the dash camera from Fosler’s truck may have contained evidence that would have cleared Spencer of any wrongdoing. According to court records, a detective with the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office removed the dash camera from the truck when responding to the scene of the shooting.

But the camera’s internal settings were not preserved, and the battery of the camera was allowed to drain, and as a result, the camera went back to its default settings. When the camera was sent to the attorney general’s office for a forensic exam, the memory card that was in it when it was collected from the truck was missing. The detective who collected the camera later admitted that it was not logged into evidence right away, but was instead stored in his personal office rather than the evidence room, according to court records.

Wilson replaced the original judge handling the murder case in January after the Arkansas Supreme Court removed Judge Barbara Elmore from the case, finding she had issued an overly broad gag order that violated Spencer’s First Amendment rights.