Judge: Fentanyl death suspect to remain in jail

An Alexander man accused of supplying a fatal fentanyl dose to a Star City man was ordered to remain in jail on a federal count of distribution of fentanyl resulting in death by a federal magistrate judge who expressed concerns that the man’s conduct could pose a danger to the community if he were allowed out of jail.

Arthur Lamon Joyner Jr., 41, is accused in connection with the Oct. 16, 2023, overdose death of 41-year-old Douglas Johnson at a Searcy hotel. Agents with the Central Arkansas Drug Task Force in White County alleged that Joyner had sold fake oxycodone pills containing fentanyl to Johnson two days before he died of an overdose.

Lauren Sexton, a detective with the Central Arkansas Drug Task Force, testified that Johnson had traveled to Searcy on Oct. 14, 2023, with his fiancee after stopping off at a location on Baseline Road in Little Rock, where she said the fiancee told police that she and Johnson met another man after Johnson had arranged by text message to purchase drugs. Sexton said the woman identified Joyner from a photo lineup following Johnson’s death and that the number he had texted, which was listed in his phone as belonging to an Arthur Snell, was later traced back to a phone used by Johnson.

According to a probable cause affidavit in Lonoke County Circuit Court, the woman told police that on Oct. 14, 2023, a Saturday, Johnson had purchased a quantity of cocaine and three blue “M30” pills he believed to be oxycodone and that on the morning of Oct. 16, Johnson crushed up and snorted one of the blue pills about an hour before he stopped breathing.

Sexton said police had taken a cellphone belonging to Johnson, which contained the message thread, as well

as two phones that were in Joyner’s possession. She said that in that message thread, Johnson had texted that he didn’t want “fake pills,” and that in return he received assurances the pills were genuine.

“You didn’t find the thread on either phone, did you?” asked Assistant Federal Public Defender Jawara Griffin, in arguing for Joyner’s release.

“Yes, we did,” Sexton answered. “I believe it was in deleted files.”

Still, as Griffin continued to press, Sexton conceded that no one had seen Joyner using the phone and also that Johnson’s fiancee — who was working 12-hour shifts that weekend as a traveling registered nurse — had not seen Johnson during the hours she was working. Griffin also elicited testimony that Johnson — who was an electrician — had worked with Joyner in the past.

In arguing for Joyner’s continued detention, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristin Bryant pointed out that Joyner was twice convicted of violent crimes, including an aggravated robbery conviction in 2002 and a conviction for terroristic threatening in 2018.

Bryant said that in 2002, Joyner was convicted of robbing an elderly, disabled neighbor — for which she said he was sentenced to 10 years in prison — and in 2018 she said, he was given a fiveyear suspended sentence after being accused of pointing a gun at a man and threatening to shoot him. In 2023, she said, Johnson was placed on three years’ probation for a drug conviction.

“Not only was he on probation when he distributed the fentanyl to Mr. Johnson,” she said, “he killed him while on probation.”

In considering whether to allow Joyner to leave custody, Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Jerome Kearney said he had several concerns in addition to Joyner’s criminal history, including the seriousness 0f the allegations against Joyner as well as the danger posed by fentanyl to the general public.

“Fentanyl is obviously one of the bigger concerns in terms of the safety in our community,” Kearney said. “We see headlines where people are dying just from handling the stuff.”

Although the purpose of the hearing Monday was only to consider detention and not to make a determination of guilt, Kearney said the facts laid out by the government were troubling enough that despite a large show of support in the courtroom as indicated by the presence of numerous family and friends of Joyner’s, he believed allowing the defendant to go free would pose too great a risk to the public.

“The bottom line is this,” Kearney said, “the court is very concerned that within a few months after receiving another sentence on which he would be placed on supervision the allegations are that he sold drugs that resulted in someone’s death. Based on that I am finding that he is a danger to the community.”