Posted 9:00 am Tuesday, July 10, 2012
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UPDATE: Injection Trial Will Begin July 16
Updated Tuesday, July 10, 2012 at 8:59 a.m. CDT
The trial for a Tyler woman accused of injecting several individuals with a liquid gel substance, who were seeking breast and buttock augmentations, will begin Monday.
Prosecutor Richard Vance said earlier that he is expecting a report from the FDA about what the gel substance was that Foster injected into her clients. At Vance's request, Judge Kerry Russell also ordered that defendant Carmel Mitchelle Foster, and attorneys for both the prosecution and defense, are prohibited from granting interviews to the media about the case.
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Prosecutor Richard Vance said earlier that he is expecting a report from the FDA about what the gel substance was that Foster injected into her clients. At Vance's request, Judge Kerry Russell also ordered that defendant Carmel Mitchelle Foster, and attorneys for both the prosecution and defense, are prohibited from granting interviews to the media about the case.
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By DAYNA WORCHEL
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
A Tyler woman accused of injecting several individuals with a liquid gel substance, who were seeking breast and buttock augmentations, will learn this morning whether her trial will happen this week.
A woman who said she spent a month in the Smith County Jail and became friends with Carmel Mitchelle Foster, 39, during that time, was in the 7th District Court on Monday to lend her support.
Ms. Foster is accused of injecting the women in February inside the Queen Divas salon she owns on Martin Luther King Boulevard. One of the women was hospitalized in Longview and placed on a ventilator because of a pneumothorax (a buildup of air and blood) in the lungs. She has since been released from the hospital.
Maria Sandoval, 33, said after the docket call in the 7th District Court on Monday morning that she was in jail with Ms. Foster for about a month, and said the two became close. She said the two of them prayed together and talked about the Bible and church. Ms. Sandoval said she came to court to support Ms. Foster.
Ms. Sandoval said she was released from jail about two weeks ago, where she had been held because of a revoked probation. She said Ms. Foster told her that the injections took place at a party where the women seeking the breast and buttock augmentations all injected each other.
"I'm here to support her -- I love her," Ms. Sandoval said on Monday as she stood surrounded by some women who had come with her from the Iglesia de Dios church in Tyler.
Ms. Foster, who appeared in court on Monday, is charged with two counts of practicing medicine without a license. She faces up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine if convicted.
The prosecution and Ms. Foster's defense attorney, O.W. "Buddy" Lloyd, said in court that they were ready to proceed with the case. She has been in the Smith County Jail since Feb. 28 on a $200,000 bond.
Judge Kerry Russell set Ms. Foster's case, along with several others for the recall docket at 8:30 a.m., and will decide at that time if her case will go to trial this week.
