Commissioner’s son arrested again during county meeting

Lance Phillips, son of Smith County Precinct 3 Commissioner Terry Phillips was arrested this past week after an outburst during the public comment portion of the commissioner’s meeting.
Phillips’ arrest on Tuesday (April 2) was the fourth time he had been taken to jail for disrupting a meeting or court proceeding. He was arrested this past January and in June, 2023 he was arrested in Judge Clay White’s courtroom during an arraignment in the county courthouse.
He was there for a previous charge of disrupting a meeting which occurred during a May, 2023 meeting of the commissioners.
On April 2, he signed up to speak on an agenda item pertaining to a resolution proclaiming April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month in the county.
County Judge Neal Franklin, noting that Phillips’ comments did not pertain to the agenda item, admonished him and told him to stay on topic, to which Phillips demanded more time to be added to his public comment time.
At this time, Phillips addressed the county judge by his first name.
““Mr. Phillips, you need to call me judge,” Franklin said.
“OK, you can call me chosen one,” Phillips said.
Franklin then ended his time at the microphone and as he was being led out of the court room by sheriff’s deputies he made an obscene gesture at the court.
Franklin then made a motion to hold Phillips in contempt. After a second to the motion by Precinct 2 Commissioner John Moore, the court voted in favor of the motion with Terry Phillips abstaining.
Lance Phillips was ordered to spend 24 hours in jail and records show additional charges of hindering proceedings by disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and assaulting a public servant have been added.
His bonds total $200,000.
Deputies struggled to control Phillips and eventually had to carry him to a patrol unit outside the courthouse annex.