In a scathing order, U.S. District Judge Amos L. Mazzant III has denied a slew of posttrial motions from public officials in East Texas who were found liable by a jury last year in the firing and arrest of a former Quitman police captain.
Through his Aug. 11 order, Judge Mazzant in essence upheld a $21.3 million verdict on behalf of Terry Bevill, a career police officer who, jurors concluded, was targeted for signing an affidavit in 2017 saying he didn’t think a friend could get a fair trial in Wood County because of improperly close relationships between the county sheriff, the district attorney and the state district judge in Wood County.
“When you tear out a man’s tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you’re only telling the world you fear what he might say,” the judge wrote, quoting George R.R. Martin, author of the Game of Thrones saga.
“Bevill’s career in law enforcement,” Judge Mazzant wrote, “required him to take an oath to defend the United States Constitution. When he exercised his First Amendment rights under it — by calling out public corruption in his hometown — he lost his job and was thrown in jail. The cost of doing the right thing was losing his livelihood, his freedom, and his good name.”
Last September, a jury in Judge Mazzant’s court found in favor of Bevill, whose suit contended that he was wrongfully fired in 2017 by David Dobbs, then the mayor of Quitman, as a result of pressure from Tom Castloo, then the Wood County sheriff; Jim Wheeler, the district attorney at the time; and Jeff Fletcher, who presided over the state district court for Wood County — the three officials Bevill identified in his affidavit by office, though not by name, as comprising a “dangerous combination” of “influential persons.”
At the heart of the case was a June 2, 2017, affidavit by Bevill, attached to a motion for a change of venue filed on behalf of his friend, David McGee, in which Bevill said a fair trial in Wood County was impossible in part because of the improperly close relationships between the sheriff, the DA and the judge.
McGee was eventually convicted before Judge Fletcher of tampering with a government record to secure the release of a jail inmate with whom he was sexually involved.
On the day a Wood County jury found McGee guilty, Judge Fletcher issued a bench warrant for Bevill’s arrest on a charge of aggravated perjury. Bevill was no-billed by a Wood County grand jury, but not until 16 months after his arrest.
Jurors in Bevill’s federal civil suit were told that by the time Bevill was cleared of wrongdoing, his 19-year career in law enforcement was dead and his reputation in the county where he’d lived most of his life was in tatters.
“Bevill submitted an affidavit in hopes of securing a fair trial for his friend,” Judge Mazzant wrote. “For that, he lost his career and languished in jail, only to later be vindicated by the grand jury’s no bill.”
Judge Mazzant, in his 98-page order, denied motions by Wheeler, Castloo and Judge Fletcher for judgment as a matter of law and, alternatively, for a new trial, and motions for remittitur. He denied a motion by Dobbs for judgment as a matter of law and, alternatively, for a new trial. He also denied related motions seeking to have the jury’s verdict overturned.
Laura Benitez Geisler, Bevill’s lead attorney, said: “The court’s thorough and thoughtful opinion affirms what the jury made clear with its verdict and reinforces the vital role that our courts and jury system have in protecting the rule of law and holding power to account.”
In addition to Geisler, Bevill is represented by, among others, Sean McCaffity, Jody Leigh Rodenberg and Rebecca Neumann of Sommerman, McCaffity, Quesada & Geisler in Dallas.
Attorneys for Dobbs, Castloo, Wheeler, and Judge Fletcher did not respond to inquiries from The Texas Lawbook seeking comment on Judge Mazzant’s order.
The case in the Eastern District of Texas is 4:19-cv-406.