ANGELINA COUNTY, TX (EAST TEXAS NEWS) – The Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct has suspended Angelina County Judge Don Lymbery without pay in connection with his alleged violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act.
The suspension order, signed at 5 p.m. on Friday, March 11, by the commission’s chair, David Schenck, cites the accusation against Lymbery under the Texas Open Meetings Act. The Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct is the agency that oversees judges in the state. The Texas Constitution grants it the power to discipline and even remove judges in cases of misconduct or incompetence.
Judge Meydon “Don” Lymbery, Precinct 1; Commissioner Rodney Paulette and Precinct 4 Commissioner Michael Steve Smith were booked into the county jail on Saturday after the charges were filed on Friday.
The Lymbery indictment states that “on or about August 9, 2021… at that time and place, as a member of a governmental body, namely the Angelina County Commissioners Court, knowingly participated in a meeting in violation of Title 5, Subtitle A, Chapter 551 of the Texas Government Code… by taking part in a meeting that constituted a quorum of the Commissioners Court for the purpose of discussing or deliberating the county’s business, namely: the possible employment of a county road engineer.”
“Oh, I was surprised. There was absolutely nothing… Never, ever would I violate the trust placed in this office and I know the rules,” Lymbery told KTRE 9 in an interview published on October 27, 2021. “And in my view of the rules as they are written, we hadn’t violated anything because I explained that county matters would not be discussed while I was here.”
The suspension order will remain in effect until charges against Judge Lymbery are dismissed, Lymbery is acquitted, or until the commission issues another order, according to the order.
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