After a day and a half of testimony from 10 witnesses and less than an hour of deliberation, a jury of seven women and five men found a Little Rock man guilty of supplying the fentanyl that killed a Fayetteville woman in early 2021.
Jemel Foster, 32, was found guilty of supplying fentanyl to Kaleigh Walser, 33, on Jan. 11, 2021, after she returned to Little Rock from Florida following a 30-day stay in jail there on a petty theft charge that caused her death just a few hours later.
Walser died of a fentanyl overdose at her mother's home in Little Rock shortly after midnight Jan. 12, according to testimony from two officials with the Arkansas State Crime Lab.
Foster was charged with distribution of fentanyl with a sub-count of causing Walser's death, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, felon in possession of a firearm, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Jurors had the option of finding him guilty of fentanyl distribution without the enhancement that Foster was responsible for her death. He was found guilty on all four counts, including the enhancement.
On Wednesday, Dr. Stephen Erickson, the deputy chief medical examiner, and Mary Heffington, a forensic toxicologist, testified that Walser died of an overdose of fentanyl and placed the time of her death just after midnight Jan. 12.
Heffington walked jurors through the process used to conduct toxicology tests on blood and other body fluids and tissue and testified the drugs found in Walser's body included alprazolam, amphetamine and fentanyl.
Earlier testimony established that Walser had prescriptions for Xanax and Adderall, and during her testimony Heffington said the amounts found in Walser's blood were consistent with therapeutic doses of the two prescribed drugs.
When asked by Assistant U.S. Attorney Benecia Moore if the amount of fentanyl detected in Walser's blood -- 17 nanograms per milliliter of blood -- would be considered a therapeutic level, Heffington hesitated before answering.
"In my opinion, no," she said. "It can vary between the person and their habits."
Erickson said over the past two years his office has seen a significant increase in drug overdose cases attributed to fentanyl.
"Two or three years ago we started seeing this problem, and it's a big, big problem," he said. "Fentanyl, up until recently, was redirected, but when this illicit fentanyl came into the country it exploded. We see it every day."
He said pharmaceutical fentanyl is effective when used properly, but he said users of illicitly manufactured fentanyl are essentially taking a huge risk every time they use the drug.
"Fentanyl is a very good drug in a hospital setting," he said. "When you get it in powder form there is no way of knowing what is a correct dose."
Overdose deaths, he said, are due to fentanyl's effect of turning off the respiratory center in the brain, which he said leads to death within minutes.
"It stops you from breathing," he said. "As the oxygen level in your blood drops, your blood gets more acidic and your heart slows down and stops."
Erickson said the emergence of illicitly manufactured fentanyl had caused overdose deaths to skyrocket because of the potency of the drug, which he said is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine.
"If you bring a coffee can filled with fentanyl through the door, you can kill hundreds of thousands of people," he said.
Erickson testified the condition of Walser's body indicated she had died several hours before she was found.
" If she was last seen alive just after midnight and she was found dead between 6:30 and 7:00, what do you think the time of death would be?"Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Givens asked.
"Very close to the last time she was seen alive," Erickson replied.
Erickson testified the official cause of Walser's death was fentanyl, alprazolam and amphetamine intoxication, but under questioning he clarified that had it not been for the fentanyl Walser had taken she would not have died.
"There's no way to say it more clearly," he said. "This was fentanyl, by far and away, that caused this young lady's death."
Just before lunch, Givens rested the government's case, after which John Wesley Hall Jr., Foster's attorney, rested for the defense without calling any witnesses.
"The defendant, Jemel Foster is a drug dealer," Moore said to the jury as she began the government's closing remarks. "Jemel Foster sells fentanyl. On Jan. 11, 2021, Jemel Foster met Kaleigh Walser and sold her fentanyl.
"The next day," she continued, "Jemel Foster showed up to meet Kaleigh Walser trying to sell her fentanyl again, but he was met by DEA agents."
Moore said Walser began texting Foster at 4:14 p.m. Jan. 11 during a stop in Dallas, sending 11 texts in less than three hours and receiving no response until 7 p.m.
"When she said, 'I have $300,' he said, 'I'm nearby,' " Moore said.
Hall told the jury there was no question Foster was a drug dealer, that he sold fentanyl, or even that he sold fentanyl to Walser the day before she died. But he maintained the link between the fentanyl Walser bought from Foster and her death had not been conclusively made by the government.
"There is reasonable doubt," Hall said. "There's no connection between what he sold her and her death. Could she have got to that? Maybe, but maybe is not why we're here. ... Find him guilty on counts one, two, three and four. He did those things, but he did not kill her."
Givens told jurors to look at the evidence and to use their common sense, saying Hall's contention "stretches the bounds of common sense beyond the breaking point."
"If she had another source, would she have sent 11 text messages to Jemel Foster and would she have said that's all I can do?" Givens asked. "She got fentanyl the only time she possibly could, at 7:22 p.m. from Jemel Foster."
As Wilson read the verdicts, crying could be heard throughout the courtroom by family members and supporters of both Walser and Foster, who had crowded both sides of the gallery. One woman on Foster's side of the gallery dashed out of the courtroom as the first verdict was read.
Walser's mother, Teresa Coleman, who testified Tuesday, joined Walser's sister and daughter to embrace Givens and Moore, thanking them. Coleman, crying, walked over to two detectives who had investigated the case.
"Thank you so much," she said, tearfully, as she tightly hugged the two men.
Foster faces a possible penalty of life in prison when he returns for sentencing in a few months.