A jury in federal court 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.
The verdict in favor of Terry Bevill, 64, came on the second day of jury deliberations in the trial of Bevill’s wrongful-termination suit before U.S. District Judge Amos L. Mazzant III. Bevill was seeking at least $33 million in damages.
Bevill’s suit contends that he was fired by David Dobbs, the mayor of Quitman in 2017, 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.
Bevill’s friend, David McGee, who was the Wood County jail administrator, was 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 jurors found McGee guilty, 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 were told that by the time Bevill was cleared of wrongdoing, his 19-year career in law enforcement was dead.
Bevill is represented by Laura Benitez Geisler, Sean McCaffity, Jody Leigh Rodenberg and Rebecca Neumann of Sommerman, McCaffity, Quesada & Geisler in Dallas.
Dobbs and the city of Quitman are represented by Lance Vincent of Ritcheson, Laufer & Vincent in Tyler.
Castloo and Wood County are represented by Robert Scott Davis of Flowers Davis in Tyler.
Wheeler is represented by Grant Blaies and James Hryekewicz of Blaies & Hightower in Fort Worth.
Fletcher is represented by Brianna Michelle Krominga and Will Wassdorf of the Texas attorney general’s office.
This is a developing story that will be updated. For previous coverage of the trial from The Texas Lawbook’s Bruce Tomaso, click here.