Court rejects appeal made by former Angelina County judge convicted of violating open meetings law

ANGELINA COUNTY, Texas (KTRE) - An appeal made by a former Angelina County judge has been rejected by a Texas court.

Meydon “Don” Lymbery was convicted in June 2023 of violating the Texas Open Meetings Act (TOMA) in 2021 when he and two county commissioners met in an office and unofficially discussed county business. Lymbery denied any wrongdoing, claiming the conversation between the three did not include county business, but was sentenced to 35 days in the Angelina County jail and a $350 fine. The jail time and fine were suspended and Lymbery was placed on 90 days probation and required to report monthly and do 35 hours of community service restitution.

Lymbery’s appeal claimed there was insufficient evidence to uphold his conviction, or to even corroborate the testimony of Angelina County Commissioner Steve Smith, one of the two commissioners also charged in connection with the incident.

The court’s ruling stated that, even eliminating Smith’s testimony from consideration, there was sufficient evidence provided via surveillance footage, as well as testimony from multiple other people not named as accomplices.

“Reviewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the trial court’s judgment and giving full deference to the trial court’s role, as factfinder, to weigh the evidence and to draw reasonable inferences from basic facts to ultimate facts, we conclude that a rational trier of fact could have found Appellant “guilty” beyond a reasonable doubt of violating TOMA,” the ruling stated.

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