Attorney establishes defense in drug possession case

Nov. 14—LIMA — A jury trial for a Lima man facing drug possession charges is still set to begin Monday despite the man's attorney filing a motion to reschedule.

Paris Fosters' attorney, Kenneth Rexford, requested additional time due to limited time to prepare, since he has only been Fosters' attorney for about a month. He also wrote he believed the prosecutors haven't provided him with all of the information he requested.

"The defense continues to maintain that the state cannot have legitimately provided all exculpatory or potentially exculpatory evidence in this case and that the defense should have the discovery from the Kyle Smith case, as recently requested," Rexford wrote in a motion filed Nov. 5.

In August, Smith was found guilty by a jury of drug possession, the illegal manufacture of drugs and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison. On Feb. 1, police conducted a traffic stop on Paris after he was seen interacting with Smith at Smith's house and saw a bag of suspected fentanyl in the car. Police said in the Smith case that Foster was known to the drug task force for trafficking drugs from Dayton and was believed to have supplied Smith with drugs.

Rexford has argued in recent motions that Smith could have left the drugs in Fosters' car.

"Basic logic suggests that the person manufacturing and possessing large amounts of drugs, F1 and F2 level, likely would be the supplier, not the recipient, of smaller amounts of drugs found in Mr. Foster's car, allegedly," Rexford wrote. "Moreover, it is also plausible that these substances were placed in the vehicle by Mr. Smith, perhaps accidentally or perhaps because he spotted law enforcement conducting surveillance, especially if law enforcement in the aforementioned reports spotted the two near the vehicle and then Smith walking back to his residence from that vehicle."

Allen County Assistant Prosecutor Colleen Limerick said in a previous hearing that Foster is a multi-county offender with cases in Montgomery and Miami counties and a 23-year criminal history.

Investigator Aaron Montgomery of the Lima Police Department and the West Central Ohio Crime Task Force wrote in a statement provided in court documents that "Paris has prior convictions for agg (aggravated) possession of drugs and CCW (carrying a concealed weapon). Paris has a history of fleeing from law enforcement and is considered a danger to the public."

Foster, 31, was indicted in March on a first-degree felony charge of possession of a fentanyl-related compound and a third-degree felony charge of aggravated possession of drugs for having methamphetamine along with a specification to forfeit $904. Then a superseding indictment was filed in April which changed the charges to possession of cocaine, a fourth-degree felony, the same drug possession charge and a reduced fentanyl possession charge to a third-degree felony with the same specification.

Reach Charlotte Caldwell at 567-242-0451.

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