The federal court trial of a Little Rock man accused of fentanyl distribution resulting in death began Monday with the selection of 12 jurors and two alternates to hear the case before U.S. District Judge Billy Roy Wilson.
Jemel Foster, 32, was indicted in March of last year on federal charges of possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. The following July a superseding indictment added one count of distribution of fentanyl resulting in death in connection with the January 2021 drug overdose death of a 33-year-old McGehee woman.
Jury selection got underway at about 2 p.m. with 58 prospective jurors seated, and at about 4:30 p.m. a panel of seven women, five men and two alternates were seated. Following preliminary instructions, jurors were sent home for the night.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Chris Givens and Benecia Moore will attempt to prove that on Jan. 11, 2021, Foster sold 1 1/2 grams of fentanyl to Kayleigh Walser after she arranged to meet him in the parking lot of a Little Rock drugstore to purchase the drug.
The following morning, just hours after prosecutors say Walser purchased fentanyl from Foster, she was found dead in the bathroom of her mother's home in MeGehee. The U.S. Attorney's Office obtained a superseding indictment from a grand jury in July 2021 after a toxicology report from the Arkansas Crime Lab confirmed Walser had died of a fentanyl overdose.
Court records indicate that on Jan. 12, investigators used Walser's cell phone to arrange a meeting with Foster via text message on the pretext of purchasing more drugs in the same drugstore parking lot where she had allegedly met with him the day before. When Foster arrived for the meeting he was arrested without incident.
A search of his vehicle and his person turned up suspected fentanyl contained in eight plastic baggies, a Smith & Wesson .40 caliber semiautomatic pistol and a red iPhone.
The affidavit said that when investigators called the number Walser had texted the day before and that investigators had used to set up the arrest, the iPhone, which was sitting on the center armrest inside a protective cover, began to ring. After Foster was taken into custody, investigators found another iPhone, a plastic bag containing three white pills and two plastic pouches containing suspected marijuana.
According to the affidavit, once Foster arrived at the Little Rock district office of the Drug Enforcement Administration, he consented to be interviewed without an attorney present but refused to allow the interview to be recorded.
The affidavit said he told investigators he received a text from someone wanting to buy narcotics. Although Foster told investigators the eight baggies contained cocaine, a field test of the substance produced a positive reaction for fentanyl and investigators later determined the amount to be 4.5 grams of the drug, the affidavit said.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine and is responsible for thousands of drug overdose deaths across the country in recent years. As little as two milligrams of the drug can be fatal.
The trial begins today with opening statements from the government and from Foster's defense attorney, John Wesley Hall Jr. of Little Rock, after which the government will begin presenting its evidence. The trial is expected to last three days.
Before he released the newly sworn jury for the night, Wilson admonished them to avoid talking to anyone about the trial, to avoid any news reports regarding the case or the trial, to refrain from doing any research on their own and to avoid drawing any conclusions regarding Foster's guilt or innocence until all of the evidence has been presented and the case put into the hands of the jury.
"Go home, get you a good supper, a good night's sleep, get up in the morning and get you a good breakfast," Wilson told jurors. "Get you some redeye gravy and some grits, some ham, have a good breakfast and drive back safely and ... we'll start back at 9:30 in the morning."
As U.S. marshals prepared to escort Foster back to the Pulaski County jail, where he has been held in pretrial detention since his Jan 12, 2021, a group of his family members who attended jury selection rose to leave.
"Jemel, we love you, baby," a woman called out, eliciting a brief smile from Foster as he was escorted from the courtroom.