The Aaron Spencer case drew public attention from the moment it began. The Lonoke County father of a sexually abused 13-year-old girl was arrested and charged with killing the man accused of those heinous crimes. These events raise critical transparency issues both within the case and beyond.

In 2022, Michael Fosler was arrested for repeatedly assaulting Spencer's daughter over a period of months. Prosecutors charged Fosler with more than 40 felony counts. Despite the volume and severity of the charges, he was released on a $50,000 bond.

A few months later, while out on bail, Fosler took Spencer's then 14-year-old daughter from her home late at night, despite a no-contact order in place. When Spencer and his wife discovered their daughter missing, they called the police, and Spencer pursued Fosler--running Fosler's truck off the road. The encounter ended with Fosler dead and Spencer charged with murder.

Crucially, Fosler--a former out-of-state constable, a quasi-law-enforcement position--had a dash-cam. The memory card from that dash-cam became the fulcrum of the case. Law enforcement lost it, and Spencer, represented by the very able Erin Cassinelli, succeeded in having the case dismissed because that potentially critical evidence had vanished.

The case's early handling presented significant transparency concerns. Judge Barbara Elmore (who, incidentally, had been scheduled to preside over Fosler's sexual-assault case) first issued a gag order far beyond what the First Amendment allows. The Arkansas Supreme Court vacated that gag order.

Elmore's next move was to restrict attendance........

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