TYLER, Texas — Lance Phillips, the son of two Smith County elected officials, was sentenced on Tuesday to one year in the county jail for interrupting a Smith County Commissioners Court meeting in January.
Phillips, 41, was convicted of hindering proceedings by disorderly conduct in connection with a Jan. 2 commissioners court meeting that he was removed from when he went off the topic of overtime in the Smith County District Attorney's Office. This happened during the public comment portion of the meeting.
He was also ordered to pay a $4,000 fine. Jurors took about 10 minutes to find Phillips guilty. They then spent over two hours determining a sentence.
Phillips pleaded not guilty to the charge on Monday.
Smith County Assistant District Attorney Heath Chamness said during the closing statements of the sentencing phase that Phillips is addicted to himself and he doesn’t care about anyone else except himself. Chamness also called Phillips a narcissist.
"He does not respect authority. Law enforcement tells him to stop and he runs away. He doesn’t respect his own parents," Chamness said. "He’s got so much respect for them that he behaves this way in a commissioners court meeting."
The defense asked the jurors to give Phillips community supervision, noting his distrust of the government and that would be a way to put him under the subjection of the government.
The other prosecutor said a strong sentence will send a message to people that this is not how people should behave. The state pointed out his age and a jail sentence would be a signal for him to grow up.
Smith County Pct. 4 Constable Josh Joplin was the only witness for the state during sentencing.
Joplin testified about an incident last year when Phillips was held in contempt of court in the Smith County Pct. 4 Justice of the Peace courtroom. Phillips took out his cell phone and started recording when he was not allowed to bring it in.
Phillips was attempting to represent Cody Voss in a court proceeding. Attorneys said they could not talk about someone else’s case. The judge told him not to speak, but he continued and was held in contempt, Joplin said.
Phillips ran out of the courtroom, and Joplin ran after him telling him to stop. Phillips ran and Joplin followed him toward State Highway 155. Joplin was not able to catch him, but Phillips later turned himself in. Phillips called 911 saying that Joplin was trying to kidnap him, but Joplin was trying to lawfully arrest him.
Phillips was later convicted of evading arrest for this incident and sentenced to 30 days in jail in November 2023.
During closing arguments, Chamness likened Phillips to a 4 or 5-year-old child throwing a tantrum over a toy in the aisle of the grocery store. He said the only difference between that child and Phillips is that Phillips is 40 years old.
Chamness told the jury that Phillips went off topic immediately when the subject at hand was supposed to be the issue of paying overtime for legal assistants at the Smith County District Attorney's Office.
After being asked by Smith County Judge Neal Franklin to stop, he continued to speak and disrupt the meeting, Chamness said. The lawyer then read off some of the Smith County Commissioners Court meeting decorum rules.
Chamness noted when a person feels they've been cut off unfairly for breaking the decorum rules, that doesn't mean they say whatever they want.
The defense began their closing remarks by giving historical examples of "hissy fits," including the American colonists rebelling against England, Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The lawyer then likened Phillips' actions to what the colonists, Parks and King did.
The defense said Phillips believed he had an opinion to express regarding the DA's office. He was given 38 seconds before he was interrupted by Franklin. Phillips was initially given three minutes and only ended up using about a minute and a half.
There was no hindrance to the commissioners court meeting. Multiple officers surrounded Phillips during the meeting despite not presenting a threat, and he moved to the end of the room, where the officers followed him, the defense said.
If Phillips was just allowed to speak, no one would be in this courtroom presently. Phillips was falsely arrested for claims of disrupting a governmental meeting.
Smith County Chief Deputy Gary Pinkerton testified that Phillips was not respectful during the Jan. 2 meeting and Smith County Judge Neal Franklin asked him to stay on topic. Pinkerton said when he spoke to Phillips, he responded by saying ’"no Pink."
Pinkerton said that Phillips flopped to the floor, and he was not pushed but he screamed as if he was getting beaten.
The defense showed video and audio, where Phillips can be heard telling Smith County Pct. 4 Constable Josh Joplin, "this is BS." Joplin could be heard saying, "the judge told you not to have another outburst."
Pinkerton testified that Phillips called everyone of the law enforcement officers demons.
Pinkerton told the defense there's nothing in the decorum rules saying that a person must get to the point when speaking during public comment in the commissioners courtroom. Pinkerton added that Phillips was interrupted because he was talking about something not on the agenda.
Franklin returned to the stand for questioning from the defense. Franklin testified he believed that Phillips was off topic and he tried to steer him back to the agenda item at hand, which was authorization to approve compensatory time in the Smith County District Attorney's Office.
Franklin testified that he let Phillips go too far because he was disrupting court. He told the defense the public is allowed to disagree with him and they often do.
Phillips was disrespectful when he called Franklin by his first name in court. There’s a difference in disagreement and disrespect, Franklin testified.
Phillips is also charged with assault of a peace officer or judge, which is a second degree felony, in connection with an April 2 commissioners court meeting. At that time, he also went off topic during the public comment section.
During an exchange with each other, Franklin asked Phillips to call him judge in the commissioners courtroom. To which, Phillips responded by saying, "You can call me chosen one, if we're playing pretend." The courthouse deputies then began to apprehend Phillips, who continued to shout, flip off and yell at the judge and commissioners.
That trial is scheduled for Oct. 8 in the 7th District Court with a pre-trial hearing happening on Oct. 1, according to judicial records.