ENID, Okla. — Former Garfield County Associate District Judge Brian Lovell received a five-year deferred sentence Wednesday, June 3, 2026, on a felony firearms charge related to an incident in Austin, Texas, on Sept. 11, 2023.
Lovell pleaded guilty April 21 to a charge of deadly conduct-discharge of a firearm, while seven other counts of the same charge were dismissed, according to online Texas court records.
The five-year deferred sentence, which means he will serve no prison time, is with Texas Community Supervision and Corrections Department. He also was given 100 hours of community service.
According to an affidavit filed in the case, Lovell was charged after authorities in Austin, Texas, said a witness reported Lovell “had discharged a firearm approximately five times while driving down the street” on Sept. 11, 2023.
A misdemeanor county of reckless driving, also from Austin on the same date, was dismissed Wednesday.
The court action resolved the remaining firearms case Lovell had been facing.
On Sept. 12, 2025, Lovell received a 20-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty in Garfield County District Court in a shooting incident at the home of his brother-in-law near the town of Bison on Feb. 12, 2023.
Authorities say the same gun was used in the Oklahoma and Texas incidents.
In the local case, Lovell pleaded guilty to a felony charge of use of a vehicle to facilitate the discharge of a weapon. Another count, listed in online court documents as in the alternative, of discharging a firearm at or into a dwelling was dismissed at the request of prosecutors.
At the time of sentencing, Stephen Jones, Lovell’s attorney, said the sentence came about through negotiations between himself and Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond. Jones said Drummond made the decision to not seek a custodial sentence if Lovell pleaded guilty.
Comanche County District Judge Emmit Tayloe, who was assigned the case by the Oklahoma Supreme Court in September 2024, took into account medical evaluations done for the prosecution and the defense that referenced Lovell suffers from dementia.
In addition to the suspended sentence, Lovell will be under Oklahoma Department of Corrections supervision for the first two years.
He also will not be able to possess any firearms or ammunition; must consent to search of his residence and vehicles; surrender his bar license, which he cannot reapply for during his probationary period; surrender his driver’s license, which he also cannot reapply for during the probationary period; no consumption or possession of drugs or alcohol; continue AA meetings; and develop and continue medical, psychiatric and psychological plan and treatments.
He also must stay at least a mile away from the victims involved in the incident.
Lovell resigned from the bench in a letter to Gov. Kevin Stitt in September 2024. In the letter, he stated he had been diagnosed with fronto-temporal dementia. In a previous court filing, Jones stated Lovell had been treated for thyroid cancer and had half his thyroid surgically removed.
Lovell was indicted by a state multi-county grand jury on the charges in the Bison shooting.