SMITH COUNTY, Texas — The saga of the Phillips family vs. the Smith County judicial system continues.
On Friday, 40-year-old Lance Phillips, the son of Smith County Pct. 3 Commissioner Terry Phillips and recently arrested Smith County clerk Karen Phillips, was arrested again during his arraignment for a previous arrest.
According to judicial records, Lance Phillips was arrested by the Smith County Sheriff's Office (SCSO) in the courtroom of Judge Clay White for contempt of court and disobedience of a court order while being arraigned for disrupting a meeting or procession.
Lance Phillips' arraignment was related to an arrest that occurred May 9, 2023, in the Smith County Commissioners Courtroom. Officials say he was shouting during the public comment portion of the meeting. When asked to leave, he refused, went limp and was forcibly removed by law enforcement.
The incident can be viewed in the video below:
He was then taken into custody by the SCSO and booked into the Smith County Jail on $500 bond for disruption of a meeting or procession.
Lance Phillips also signed up to speak at the commissioners court meeting on Tuesday, May 2, on what he called "slander" against his family.
During public comment, Lance Phillips began by saying, "This is what can happen to you when you're driving down the Smith County roads. I just wanted to correct the slander about my family. For the record..."
Smith County Judge Neal Franklin then stopped Lance Phillips saying if he wasn't going to speak about replats on Smith County roads, he could not speak.
Lance Phillips gave what he had prepared to say on paper to commissioners court officials, asking for it to be put into the record.
After going back to the seating area, Lance Phillips interrupted Franklin as the meeting moved forward and Franklin told him to not call out from the crowd.
That interaction can be viewed in the video below:
Lance Phillips' mother and Smith County clerk Karen Phillips, 65, of Tyler, was booked into the Smith County Jail on April 4 on a charge of interfering with public duties. She has since been released.
The charge stems from the arrest of her other son, Derek Phillips, who is accused of interfering with a March 28 traffic stop when deputies tried to pull another man, Cody Voss, over for having his tail lights out, according to the sheriff's office.
That incident can be viewed in the video below:
Documents allege Derek Phillips interfered with Voss' traffic stop arrest several times. Officials also said Karen Phillips grabbed a sheriff's deputy and pushed another deputy as these officers tried to arrest Derek Phillips after he ran into her home.
Karen Phillips and Derek Phillips have since filed multimillion-dollar lawsuits against Smith County in connection with the traffic stop.
Karen Phillips filed a federal lawsuit in the Southern District of Texas on May 30 against Smith County, Sheriff Larry Smith, the detective who investigated the case and the two deputies involved in the traffic stop.
She claims that several of her constitutional rights, including her First, Fourth, Fifth, Eighth and Ninth Amendment rights, were violated on March 28. She also states that the detective wrote an official arrest affidavit with "many false statements."
Karen Phillips' lawsuit is seeking $10 million in damages.
In the document, Karen Phillips claims the detective quoted the deputies without viewing the body camera footage, which led to inaccuracies of the event and "lousy detective work" in her opinion.
She said she never made statements saying she wanted to stop her son from getting arrested, according to the lawsuit.
"Screaming is not a crime. Cussing is not a crime. Having 'defective tail lamps' is not a crime," Karen Phillips wrote. "Calling someone an idiot is not a crime."
As her son was getting escorted to the patrol vehicle, the detective said in the affidavit that Karen Phillips yelled, "Shut up, you idiots!"
In the lawsuit, she requests that the two deputies be arrested for burglary, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, false imprisonment and criminal trespass without bail. She stated her Fourth Amendment right was violated because the deputies entered her home without a warrant.
Through the document, Karen Phillips said her personal sensitive data was revealed through the release of the body camera footage. This data include her name, job title, address, phone and dates of birth.
Because of this, she said she's received threatening emails and phone calls, including at her office. She cites the reason for these calls as Sheriff Larry Smith giving the unredacted body cam video to the media.
"Nightly calls from strangers and awful emails" have caused difficulty sleeping, "numerous nightmares" and waking up screaming. She added that false statements from the sheriff have put her relationships with sheriff's office employees under "extreme stress," according to her lawsuit.
The lawsuit states Smith releasing sensitive data has caused "mental anguish, anxiety, night terrors, depression, stress in most every relationship, fear, sadness and crying, anger and headaches."
On May 24, Derek Phillips and Voss filed a federal lawsuit in the Southern District of Texas against Smith County and the two deputies involved in the traffic stop. They are seeking $150.5 million in damages.
In the lawsuit, Voss and Derek Phillips claim the deputies infringed on Voss' right to travel and assaulted Voss. The complaint also says Derek Phillips was peaceful and recorded the stop to "address unlawful government activity."
The lawsuit claims that Voss and Derek Phillips had their constitutional rights violated during the traffic stop. They also allege the deputies tried to kidnap each of them. Voss and Derek Phillips also say a deputy struck Karen Phillips with blunt force while she was recording twice.