Lon Burnam, the former Texas state representative arrested during a Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting, has been released from jail and is now considering legal action against County Judge Tim O’Hare.
At about 1 p.m. Tuesday, Burnam, 73, was carried out of the courtroom by four sheriff deputies, who held him by his hands and feet. He was charged with disrupting a meeting and released Wednesday night from the county jail without paying a bond, Burnam said.
He is now banned from attending commissioners court for six months, he said. The former state lawmaker, who represented Tarrant County as a Democrat from 1997 to 2015, is a frequent speaker at commissioners court meetings, often advocating for accountability for deaths in the county jail.
Burnam’s arrest came about three hours into a heated commissioners court meeting, where commissioners were scheduled to consider reducing the number of polling sites for the November midterm election. Commissioners ultimately voted to delay that decision after dozens of speakers, including Burnam, criticized the proposal as an attempt to limit voter access to the polls.
“I am OK. I think I really did a good job of bringing attention to the attempt to do voter suppression,” Burnam told the Fort Worth Report on Wednesday.
That morning, Burnam was en route to Austin to visit with state lawmakers about the increasing number of in-custody jail deaths, plus what he described as “filthy conditions” at the jail. He and several other local activists had previously arranged the trip and are planning to testify to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards during its Thursday meeting.
“This will be my second time to speak to them, and it’ll be my first time to speak having personal knowledge of the situation,” Burnam said of the state agency tasked with regulating city and county jails.
Robbie Hoy, spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, said via email that Burnam’s arrest and release followed the “traditional judicial process.” He was released at about 10:15 p.m. Wednesday on a personal recognizance bond, which allows an arrestee to be released from jail without paying a bond after signing a sworn agreement that they will appear at all court dates and follow release conditions.
After he was booked into the jail, Burnam was placed in a multi-occupancy holding cell, Hoy said. Burnam did not enter the jail’s general population housing area, Hoy added, saying the former lawmaker “did not observe the conditions inside the facility.”
“At no point did he raise any concerns about the cleanliness of that area with jail staff,” Hoy said. “Had he done so, any issues would have been promptly addressed as there are inmate workers assigned to that area at all times.”
O’Hare’s spokesperson did not return a request for comment on potential litigation over Burnam’s arrest.
County Judge Tim O’Hare, right, tells Commissioner Alisa Simmons to wait during a Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting Aug. 4, 2026, in Fort Worth. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)
The arrest came about an hour after O’Hare instructed sheriff deputies to remove all attendees, excluding county staff and reporters, from the commissioners courtroom when some of them clapped and laughed from the audience. Earlier in the meeting, O’Hare had warned that such behavior, which he labeled “disruptive,” would result in removal from the room.
Under the commissioners court’s rules of decorum, audience members are prohibited from making “disruptive remarks or actions of approval or disapproval,” such as clapping, yelling or whistling.
Legally, commissioners are allowed to enforce rules preventing disruptions from the audience during public meetings, said David Keating, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Free Speech, a nonprofit focused on protecting the First Amendment.
However, Keating said, it was “a little bit much” to remove everyone from the room as it was unlikely that everyone in the room had violated the rules.
“I don’t really think they can enforce the rules against people who have not violated the rules,” Keating said in a phone interview. “That doesn’t make any sense. But at the same time, it’s kind of difficult to keep track of everyone who clapped or made noise.”
Speakers were allowed back into the courtroom one-by-one when it was their turn to address commissioners.
“Contrary to what some of you may think, I have no interest whatsoever in throwing people out of a room,” O’Hare said after allowing everyone to rejoin the meeting around 2 p.m. “I have no interest whatsoever in having any disruptions, but if we have more disruptions, we’re going to do it again.”
Sheriff deputies call out names of speakers to allow them back into a Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting Aug. 4, 2026, in Fort Worth. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)
Burnam’s turn to speak came shortly after O’Hare instructed sheriff deputies to remove Fort Worth resident Base Mego, who had picked up the microphone used for public comments during his allotted time to speak. O’Hare told Mego to put the microphone back down on the lectern, and Mego objected, saying he had requested to hold the microphone during his remarks as a reasonable accommodation for his disability.
The court’s rules of decorum allow people with disabilities who plan to attend commissioners court to request accommodations up to 48 hours prior to the meeting they plan to attend. For requests made less than 48 hours in advance, county staff will make “reasonable attempts” to provide accommodations, according to the rules.
Mego, 56, has autism and isn’t comfortable speaking publicly in front of large crowds. Speech therapy has made it easier, but he still uses physical techniques such as holding the microphone to help him focus and articulate his thoughts, Mego told the Report.
From a practical standpoint, holding the microphone helps to avoid hurting his back by having to lean over the lectern to speak into it, he said. Mego is 6 feet, 4 inches tall.
“There’s always a potential teaching moment, and I’m OK with that because we’re all, to me, I think it’s about us all getting together and just trying to learn from each other,” Mego said. He added that he doesn’t mind explaining when people don’t understand his disability or mannerisms, but it quickly became clear to him that O’Hare wasn’t interested in learning.
“I’m not sure what you’re referring to,” O’Hare responded when Mego said he had spoken at the commissioners court meeting in July, holding the microphone without an objection at that meeting.
When Burnam approached the microphone, he accused O’Hare of “total disrespect for the public,” particularly against Mego and his accommodation request.
“He’s on the spectrum. He needs respect. But we know that we don’t care about basic human rights — any of them,” Burnam said, picking up the microphone and turning around to address the audience.
O’Hare instructed Burnam to put the microphone down, then ordered sheriff deputies to remove him from the courtroom.
Keating, the free speech expert, said O’Hare may have violated free speech protections when he had Mego and Burnam removed but hesitated to say so definitively.
“If there’s a rule that says the microphone has to remain on the stand, then you can’t pick it up,” Keating said. “But if there’s no rule about the microphone staying on the stand during your entire remarks, then they can’t just make a rule on the fly like that.”
Members of the public may only address commissioners from the podium when called on to speak, according to the decorum rules. However, the rules do not state whether speakers may touch or hold the microphone on the podium.
Burnam said Wednesday his decision to lay down and allow deputies to carry him out of the room was an act of “civil disobedience” learned during his participation in the 1970s peace movement that opposed the Vietnam War.
“One of the things you learn to do is to force the issue and force them to remove you from a space that you’ve decided to occupy,” Burnam told the Report.
Sheriff deputies were “very solicitous” when transporting him to the jail and did not physically hurt him, Burnam said.
After Mego’s removal from the courtroom, deputies allowed him to remain in the lobby, he said. He plans to continue returning to commissioners court, adding that despite O’Hare’s objection, he felt encouraged by Burnam’s solidarity.
“I was just shocked that somebody would do that, and then I felt very encouraged. He gave us hope,” Mego said of Burnam. “I feel hopeful for all of us as citizens of Tarrant County. I feel hopeful for just the goodness in this world, that people are willing to stand up for goodness.”
Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org.
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