Posted 12:17 am Wednesday, July 11, 2012
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Foster Injection Trial Set To Begin Monday
By DAYNA WORCHEL
Staff Writer
The trial for a Tyler woman accused of injecting a group of people seeking breast and buttock augmentations with a gel substance is set for Monday.
Smith County Judge Kerry Russell of the 7th District Court on Tuesday set the trial for Carmel Mitchelle Foster, 39, charged with two counts of practicing medicine without a license. The defendant faces up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine if convicted.
One woman was hospitalized and placed on a ventilator because of a pneumothorax, a buildup of air and blood in the lungs. The woman later was released from the hospital.
Prosecutors and the defense attorney said they needed ex-tra time to locate witnesses, listen to recordings of jail phone interviews Ms. Foster conducted with a Tyler television station and get a final copy of a Food and Drug Administration report about the composition of the gel substance injected into the women.
Staff Writer
The trial for a Tyler woman accused of injecting a group of people seeking breast and buttock augmentations with a gel substance is set for Monday.
Smith County Judge Kerry Russell of the 7th District Court on Tuesday set the trial for Carmel Mitchelle Foster, 39, charged with two counts of practicing medicine without a license. The defendant faces up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine if convicted.
One woman was hospitalized and placed on a ventilator because of a pneumothorax, a buildup of air and blood in the lungs. The woman later was released from the hospital.
Prosecutors and the defense attorney said they needed ex-tra time to locate witnesses, listen to recordings of jail phone interviews Ms. Foster conducted with a Tyler television station and get a final copy of a Food and Drug Administration report about the composition of the gel substance injected into the women.
Russell also granted a restrictive order, barring attorneys and the defendant from speaking about Ms. Foster’s case at the request of Smith County Assistant District Attorney Richard Vance. The prosecutor said in court that Ms. Foster had conducted some phone interviews with a Tyler television station in which she talked about the facts of her case.
Russell said he would grant the order to restrict attorneys and the defendant from speaking about the case, but not others unless they were sworn witnesses. “The first amendment is pretty broad on this,” he said.
Defense attorney O.W. “Buddy” Lloyd said in court that he had watched televised interviews on two local television stations in which an individual who was in the Smith County jail with Ms. Foster had talked about the friendship they had developed. The woman, Maria Sandoval, had been in the courtroom Monday and had spoken to the television stations as well as the Tyler Morning Telegraph.
Russell swore in Ms. Sandoval as a witness when it was discovered she was in the courtroom again Tuesday.
Lloyd, who had asked for a continuance in the case, also told Russell that Ms. Foster had told him about two additional witnesses she wanted to testify on her behalf. He said he needed to find those witnesses.
Russell said he would grant the order to restrict attorneys and the defendant from speaking about the case, but not others unless they were sworn witnesses. “The first amendment is pretty broad on this,” he said.
Defense attorney O.W. “Buddy” Lloyd said in court that he had watched televised interviews on two local television stations in which an individual who was in the Smith County jail with Ms. Foster had talked about the friendship they had developed. The woman, Maria Sandoval, had been in the courtroom Monday and had spoken to the television stations as well as the Tyler Morning Telegraph.
Russell swore in Ms. Sandoval as a witness when it was discovered she was in the courtroom again Tuesday.
Lloyd, who had asked for a continuance in the case, also told Russell that Ms. Foster had told him about two additional witnesses she wanted to testify on her behalf. He said he needed to find those witnesses.
