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The Texas Lawbook

Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury

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Bruce Tomaso

Bruce Tomaso spent more than 30 years as a writer and editor at The Dallas Morning News. When asked what positions he held there, he usually says it’s easier to list those he didn’t.

As enterprise editor on The News’s breaking news desk in the summer of 2016, he played a key role in covering the downtown shooting spree that left five police officers dead. For its coverage, The News was a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News Reporting.

He spent most of 1997 in Denver covering the federal criminal trials of Oklahoma City bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. Four years later, he covered McVeigh’s execution.

His first major reporting assignment for The Texas Lawbook was a retrospective on the 20th anniversary of the $119.6 million verdict for 10 young men who’d been molested as children by Rudy Kos, a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Dallas. The stories earned Bruce and his Lawbook editor, Allen Pusey, the Dallas Bar Association’s 2018 Stephen Philbin Award for Feature Writing.

In 2019, he covered the seven-week medical fraud trial of nine physicians, healthcare executives and others associated with Forest Park Medical Center, a now-defunct Dallas surgical hospital.

He’s a member of the Alumni Hall of Fame at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He and his wife, Dallas attorney Patricia A. Nolan, have one grown son, who is smarter than either of them.

He will drop everything, including preposterous sums of money, to see Lady Gaga, Notre Dame football, or the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team.

You can reach Bruce at bruce.tomaso@texaslawbook.net.

Fired Police Captain Gets $21.35M in Wrongful Termination Trial

A federal jury in Sherman on Thursday awarded $21.35 million in damages to a former Quitman police captain who was fired then arrested for signing an affidavit in 2017 saying he didn't think a friend could get a fair trial in Wood County because of an improperly close relationship between the county sheriff, the district attorney and the state district judge assigned to Wood County.

September 19, 2024 Bruce Tomaso

‘How Could This Possibly Happen in the United States?’ Lawyer for Fired Quitman Police Captain Asks 

In closing arguments, Laura Benitez Geisler of Dallas, the lawyer for Terry Bevill, tells a federal jury he deserves at least $33 million because he was wrongfully fired and arrested for exercising his First Amendment right to free speech. The jury enters its second day of deliberations Thursday morning.

September 18, 2024 Bruce Tomaso

Fired Quitman Police Captain’s Suit Headed to Jury  

After six days of testimony, closing arguments in Terry Bevill’s wrongful-termination lawsuit are scheduled for Wednesday morning before U.S. District Judge Amos L. Mazzant III of Sherman.

September 18, 2024 Bruce Tomaso

Ex-Judge Says He Ordered Quitman Police Captain’s Arrest Over ‘Total Pile of Crap’ Affidavit

Jeff Fletcher, Wood County’s former state district judge, joins fellow defendants in Terry Bevill’s wrongful-termination suit in denying there was any conspiracy to punish Bevill for saying in 2017 that a friend couldn’t get a fair trial in the East Texas county.

September 17, 2024 Bruce Tomaso

Jury Could Begin Deliberations in Fired Police Captain’s Case as Early as Midweek

Fired Quitman police captain Terry Bevill’s wrongful-termination case in Sherman could go to a federal jury as soon as midweek.

At the conclusion of Friday’s court session before U.S. District Judge Amos L. Mazzant III, Bevill’s lawyers said they have two witnesses yet to call, and will probably rest on Tuesday.

September 16, 2024 Bruce Tomaso

Two Defendants Deny Plot to Fire Quitman Police Captain

The other two defendants in Terry Bevill’s wrongful-termination suit are listed as potential witnesses in the ongoing jury trial before U.S. District Judge Amos L. Mazzant III in Sherman.

September 12, 2024 Bruce Tomaso

Quitman Police Captain Didn’t Deserve to be Fired, His Former Chief Testifies

Had it been up to him, Ex-Chief Kelly Cole said, his second-in-command “probably would have gotten couple of days off” for violating policy by signing an affidavit stating that he didn’t think his friend could get a fair trial in Wood County.

September 11, 2024 Bruce Tomaso

Fired Quitman Police Captain Was Not the Victim of a Conspiracy, Lawyers for Defendants in His Federal Suit Say

Terry Bevill, the fired officer, testifies that he was nearly ruined in the seven years since he signed an affidavit saying he didn’t think a friend could get a fair trial in Wood County. Defense counsel say he was terminated not out of retribution, but because he violated Quitman city policies.

September 10, 2024 Bruce Tomaso

After 7 Years, Fired Quitman Police Captain Will Have His Day in Federal Court

When Terry Bevill signed an affidavit in 2017 saying he didn’t think a friend could get a fair trial in Wood County in East Texas, he didn’t know he was signing the death certificate for his law enforcement career.

On Monday, a federal jury will determine if Bevill was wrongly fired.  

September 6, 2024 Bruce Tomaso

Market Manipulation, Fraud Alleged in FW SEC Investigation 

Meta Materials Inc. of Nevada agreed in a cease-and-desist order to pay a $1 million fine. A lawsuit against the company’s two principal executives remains pending in the Southern District of New York.

June 26, 2024 Bruce Tomaso

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Features

  • Caris Life Sciences Deputy GC Ginger Appleberry Guides the Biotech Company’s $494M IPO - Ginger Appleberry was a litigation partner at Locke Lord in Dallas when she received a call in December 2014 that an Irving-based biotech company was seeking an in-house lawyer.

    “They think they want a contract lawyer,” the caller told Appleberry. “They think they want someone who can do hospital contracting. They don't. They need you. I think you should talk to them.”

    Appleberry agreed, took the position and now, 11 years later, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook have named Appleberry one of two finalists for the 2025 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Senior Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department (2-5 lawyers).
    January 27, 2026Mark Curriden
  • A Shining Star Returns to Dallas: PepsiCo’s Nur Kara Is a Natural at Marketing Law - Nur Kara joined the corporate legal department at PepsiCo in January 2024 having never practiced marketing law.

    But during the past two years, the native North Texan has played a monumental role in leading the legal efforts for major redesigns and portfolio transformations for more than 15 PepsiCo Foods brands, including top revenue-generating portfolios like Lay’s and Tostitos. Kara’s impact, according to PepsiCo executives, has been extraordinary.

    Now the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook have named Kara as one of two finalists for the 2025 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for Rookie of the Year.
    January 26, 2026Mark Curriden

GCs, Lawyers & Firms

  • Smith, Gambrell & Russell Expands Texas Reach with New Addition - International law firm Smith, Gambrell & Russell added Mitch Ackal on Monday and hopes to grow an office in the Houston market. Before joining SGR, Ackal spent two decades at Gray Reed.
  • Brown Fox Jumps Over to The Quad, Nearly Doubles Footprint
  • Data Security and E-Discovery Provider HaystackID Taps Dallas Lawyer as CEO
  • To Launch New Dallas Office, Dechert Snags McDermott Duo Behind Tesla’s $1 Trillion Contract
  • Hamilton Wingo Continues to Grow
  • Dorsey Hires Litigator from McGuireWoods
  • Siblings in Law: How Dallas-based Khirallah Trial Attorneys Came to Be 
  • Holland & Knight hires DOJ Crypto-Fraud Expert 
  • Longtime Plaintiff Lawyer Joins Hamilton Wingo
  • Introducing Charles Schwab GC Peter Morgan — An Exclusive Q&A with The Texas Lawbook
More GCs, Lawyers & Firms

Lawyers in the News

Hover right to see full list

Chip Babcock
Chris Bankler
Jamie B. Beaber
David J. Beck
Bill Benitez
Jessica Berkowitz
Brent Bernell
Tyler Bexley
Shawn Blackburn
Michael Blankenship
Jeffrey Brill
Anita Brown
Ian Brown
Stuart Campbell
Jack Chadderdon
Paul Clement
Erin Nealy Cox
Scott Craig
Kevin Crews
Shamus Crosby
Hannah M. Crowe
Geoffrey Culbertson
Sean Cunningham
John Daywalt
Rajiv Dharnidharka
James Ducayet
Brian K. Erickson
Scott Everett
Weiru Fang
Elizabeth Freeman
Tad Freese
Melanie Fry
Geoff Gannaway
Paul Genender
John J. Gilluly III
Rodney Gilstrap
Andrew Gorham
John Greer
Joseph Grinstein
Matthew Haddad
Colleen Haile
Breen Haire
Shahmeer Halepota
Dionne Hamilton
Troy Harder
Rusty Hardin
Michael Hawes
Nathan Hecht
Stephen Hessler
Hillary Holmes
Marc Jaffe
Lauren Jenkins
David Jones
Atma Kabad
Susan Kennedy
David Kinder
Justin King
Allan Kirk
Melanie Koltermann
Doug Kubehl
Joe Laurel
Sang Lee
Steven Lockhart
Arthur Lotz
Barbara Lynn
Mike Lynn
Nora McGuffey
Stephanie McPhail
Mark Melton
Jeri Leigh Miller
Kimberly A. Moore
Mark Moore
Shelby Morgan
Alia Moses
Davis Mosmeyer III
Darren Nicholson
Eamon Nolan
Ivy Nowinski
Holland O’Neil
George Padis
Ian Peck
Jonathan Platt
Chase Proctor
Doug Rayburn
Joel Reese
Kevin Richardson
Andrew Rodheim
Seth Rubinson
Mazin Sbaiti
Ana Sanchez
Vincenzo Santini
Jeffrey Scharfstein
Robert Schroeder III
Scott Seidel
Steven Sexton
Ahmed Sidik
Robert Slovak
Emily Smith
Melissa R. Smith
Jonathon Soler
Robert Soza
Lande Spottswood
Craig Stanfield
Justin Stolte
Josh Teahen
Kelly Tidwell
Linda Tieh
Rafael B. de Toledo
Monica Uddin
Rhett Van Syoc
Rahul Vashi
Gabe Vazquez
Patrick Venter
Sarah Walden
Kandace Walter
Kyle Watson
Mikell Alan West
Noël Wise
Meng Xi

Firms in the News

Hover right to show full list

AZA
Baker Botts
The Bandas Law Firm
Beck Redden
Boies Schiller Flexner
Bracewell
Bradley Arant
Burns Charest
Clement & Murphy
Condon & Forsyth
DLA Piper
Dykema
Foley & Lardner
Gibson Dunn
Gillam & Smith
Haynes Boone
Holland & Knight
Jackson Walker
King & Spalding
Kirkland & Ellis
Latham & Watkins
Lynn Pinker
Mayer Brown
MoloLamken
Pamela Welch PLLC
Patton Tidwell Culbertson
Paul Hastings
Porter Hedges
The Probus Law Firm
Reese Marketos
Rusty Hardin & Associates
Sbaiti & Company
Sidley Austin
Simpson Thacher
Skadden
Squire Patton Boggs
Sullivan & Cromwell
Susman Godfrey
Troutman Pepper Locke
Vinson & Elkins
Weil
Willkie
Winston & Strawn

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