Son of elected Smith County officials arrested for contempt in arraignment hearing

TYLER – The son of the Smith County Clerk and a county commissioner was held in contempt of court Friday morning after appearing for an arraignment hearing. Our news partners at KETK report that Lance Phillips, 40 of Tyler, was in court for a misdemeanor charge of disruption of a meeting he received after being removed from a Smith County Commissioner’s Court meeting in May.

“When the bailiffs were coming and he sat down from the pew on the floor with his back to the wall and made the officers have to literally carry him out the courtroom,” Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith said at the time of his disruption of a meeting charge. “If he acts like he did today he’s gonna wear out the hinges on the door in the jail.”

The first time Phillips attempted to speak at a commissioner’s court meeting in May, he said he planned to “correct the slander” about his family following the arrest of his mother and brother for interfering with a traffic stop. However, he was removed from the podium for not speaking on an agenda item. Phillips told KETK at the time of his disruption arrest that he planned to plead not guilty at his upcoming court date. After being arrested for contempt of court at his arraignment hearing, Phillips was booked into the Gregg County Jail.