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CARTHAGE \u2014 A lawsuit filed in Panola County accuses several officials of misconduct, racketeering and operating a \u201cduck fund\u201d to trade favorable trial outcomes for cash. According to our news partner KETK, the lawsuit was filed on July 8 in the 123rd Judicial District Court by Lisa and Steven Broomfield, joint permanent managing conservators of a minor child, amid ongoing family court proceedings.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit was filed against current County Court at Law Judge and former Acting Assistant District Attorney for Panola County Eric Scott \u201cRick\u201d McPherson,\u00a0 former Acting Assistant District Attorney for Panola County Joey Fenlaw, f ormer Panola County District Attorney Danny Buck Davidson along with 10 unnamed Panola County officials and agents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis petition seeks relief based on a coordinated pattern of official misconduct, prosecutorial fraud, suppression of criminal investigations, and concealment of incapacitation within the Panola County District Attorney\u2019s Office,\u201d the lawsuit complaint explained. \u201cThese actions obstructed justice, violated statutory duties, compromised custody proceedings, and endangered the safety of [the minor child].\u201d<\/p>\n
Key allegations from the lawsuit include:<\/p>\n
The lawsuit alleges that Lisa submitted a sworn affidavit detailing misconduct but was ignored, and that a fake affidavit was entered into a criminal case, resulting in the dismissal of a felony charge.<\/p>\n
Lisa claimed that multiple public records requests were delayed or ignored by Panola County officials and staff, and that Collin Underwood, City of Carthage Attorney, was hired for $6,000 to handle records requests, a potential misuse of public funds.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit claims that Davidson was unable to medically or cognitively serve as District Attorney and that officials concealed Davidson\u2019s alleged condition.
\nBroomfield alleged that during Davidson\u2019s tenure as DA, there was a \u201cdiscretionary prosecutorial fund\u201d known as the \u201cDuck Fund,\u201d which allegedly took payments for favorable outcomes in cases.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit also cites violations of the Texas and U.S. Constitutions, the Texas Penal Code, the Texas Local Government Code, Judicial Canons and the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Conduct.<\/p>\n
Further allegations include a violation of the federal RICO Act, accusing officials of engaging in a \u201cpattern of racketeering activity\u201d through obstruction, retaliation, misuse of funds and improper case dismissals within the DA\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
Lisa alleged that she asked Panola County Sheriff Cutter Clinton to investigate the District Attorney\u2019s Office but that he declined by \u201cstating either expressly or by clear implication, that initiating an inquiry into District Attorney Danny Buck was politically untenable and could jeopardize his career advancement.\u201d<\/p>\n
She then alleged that during Davidson\u2019s tenure as DA, there was a \u201cdiscretionary prosecutorial fund\u201d that\u2019s reportedly known as the \u201cDuck Fund.\u201d This fund is alleged to have taken payments for favorable outcomes in cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cPetitioner, upon information and belief, alleges that select local attorneys \u2013 to be identified through discovery \u2013 in conjunction with Danny Buck Davidson and\/or his assistant district attorneys and a magistrate or judge, worked together to dismiss (primarily) DWI and drug charges, even for repeat offenders as the record and testimony will show,\u201d the lawsuit alleged.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit asks the court to issue injunctive orders, including prohibiting the use of outside counsel for statutory government functions without public approval or judicial oversight, and mandating independent reviews of cases resolved under Davidson\u2019s last two years of service.<\/p>\n
In an affidavit attached to the lawsuit, Lisa called for other cases to be examined in light of this alleged misconduct, including the Bernie Tiede case, which was depicted in the 2011 film \u201cBernie\u201d, where actor Matthew McConaughey played former DA Danny Buck Davidson.<\/p>\n
KETK reached out to the Panola County District Attorney\u2019s Office about these allegations and received the following statement from current District Attorney Larry Fields:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe allegations contained in the lawsuit occurred before I took office on January 1, 2025. As such, I have no personal knowledge of the facts surrounding the allegations,\u201d Fields said.<\/p>\n
Lisa is representing herself and Steven in the lawsuit and plans to try the case in a jury trial. A trial date has not yet been set, though citations have been served to the defendants.<\/p>\n
In June, Sheriff Clinton and former Deputy Sheriff Jeffery Dale Martin came to a six-figure settlement in a lawsuit alleging that Clinton violated Martin\u2019s First Amendment right to run for office during the 2024 Republican Primary for the Panola County Sheriff\u2019s race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CARTHAGE \u2014 A lawsuit filed in Panola County accuses several officials of misconduct, racketeering and operating a \u201cduck fund\u201d to trade favorable trial outcomes for cash. According to our news partner KETK, the lawsuit was filed on July 8 in the 123rd Judicial District Court by Lisa and Steven Broomfield, joint permanent managing conservators of … Continue reading Panola County officials accused of misconduct, racketeering<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1431192,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2025\/08\/2025-08-01_061456-199x200.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1430997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news-archive-archives"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-08 15:48:47","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2025\/08\/2025-08-01_061456-199x200.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1430997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1430997"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1430997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1431361,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1430997\/revisions\/1431361"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1431192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1430997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1430997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1430997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}