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.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Burnam\u2019s 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<\/a> that decision after dozens of speakers, including Burnam, criticized the proposal as an attempt to limit voter access to the polls.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI am OK. I think I really did a good job of bringing attention to the attempt to do voter suppression,\u201d Burnam told the Fort Worth Report on Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n That morning, Burnam was en route to Austin to visit with state lawmakers about the increasing<\/a> number of in-custody jail deaths, plus what he described as \u201cfilthy conditions\u201d 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<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis will be my second time to speak to them, and it\u2019ll be my first time to speak having personal knowledge of the situation,\u201d Burnam said of the state agency tasked with regulating city and county jails.\u00a0<\/p>\n Robbie Hoy, spokesperson for the sheriff\u2019s office, said via email that Burnam\u2019s arrest and release followed the \u201ctraditional judicial process.\u201d 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n After he was booked into the jail, Burnam was placed in a multi-occupancy holding cell, Hoy said. Burnam did not enter the jail\u2019s general population housing area, Hoy added, saying the former lawmaker \u201cdid not observe the conditions inside the facility.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAt no point did he raise any concerns about the cleanliness of that area with jail staff,\u201d Hoy said. \u201cHad he done so, any issues would have been promptly addressed as there are inmate workers assigned to that area at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Hare\u2019s spokesperson did not return a request for comment on potential litigation over Burnam\u2019s arrest.\u00a0<\/p>\n The arrest came about an hour after O\u2019Hare instructed sheriff deputies to remove<\/a> 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\u2019Hare had warned that such behavior, which he labeled \u201cdisruptive,\u201d would result in removal from the room.\u00a0<\/p>\n Under the commissioners court\u2019s rules of decorum<\/a>, audience members are prohibited from making \u201cdisruptive remarks or actions of approval or disapproval,\u201d such as clapping, yelling or whistling.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, Keating said, it was \u201ca little bit much\u201d to remove everyone from the room as it was unlikely that everyone in the room had violated the rules.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t really think they can enforce the rules against people who have not violated the rules,\u201d Keating said in a phone interview. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t make any sense. But at the same time, it\u2019s kind of difficult to keep track of everyone who clapped or made noise.\u201d<\/p>\n Speakers were allowed back into the courtroom one-by-one when it was their turn to address commissioners.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cContrary to what some of you may think, I have no interest whatsoever in throwing people out of a room,\u201d O\u2019Hare said after allowing everyone to rejoin the meeting around 2 p.m. \u201cI have no interest whatsoever in having any disruptions, but if we have more disruptions, we\u2019re going to do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n Burnam\u2019s turn to speak came shortly after O\u2019Hare 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\u2019Hare 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n The court\u2019s 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 \u201creasonable attempts\u201d to provide accommodations, according to the rules.<\/p>\n Mego, 56, has autism and isn\u2019t 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s always a potential teaching moment, and I\u2019m OK with that because we\u2019re all, to me, I think it\u2019s about us all getting together and just trying to learn from each other,\u201d Mego said. He added that he doesn\u2019t mind explaining when people don\u2019t understand his disability or mannerisms, but it quickly became clear to him that O\u2019Hare wasn\u2019t interested in learning.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not sure what you\u2019re referring to,\u201d O\u2019Hare responded when Mego said he had spoken at the commissioners court meeting in July, holding the microphone without an objection at that meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n When Burnam approached the microphone, he accused O\u2019Hare of \u201ctotal disrespect for the public,\u201d particularly against Mego and his accommodation request.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s on the spectrum. He needs respect. But we know that we don\u2019t care about basic human rights \u2014 any of them,\u201d Burnam said, picking up the microphone and turning around to address the audience.\u00a0<\/p>\n O\u2019Hare instructed Burnam to put the microphone down, then ordered sheriff deputies to remove him from the courtroom.\u00a0<\/p>\n Keating, the free speech expert, said O\u2019Hare may have violated free speech protections when he had Mego and Burnam removed but hesitated to say so definitively.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf there\u2019s a rule that says the microphone has to remain on the stand, then you can\u2019t pick it up,\u201d Keating said. \u201cBut if there\u2019s no rule about the microphone staying on the stand during your entire remarks, then they can\u2019t just make a rule on the fly like that.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n Burnam said Wednesday his decision to lay down and allow deputies to carry him out of the room was an act of \u201ccivil disobedience\u201d learned during his participation in the 1970s peace movement that opposed the Vietnam War.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the things you learn to do is to force the issue and force them to remove you from a space that you\u2019ve decided to occupy,\u201d Burnam told the Report.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sheriff deputies were \u201cvery solicitous\u201d when transporting him to the jail and did not physically hurt him, Burnam said.\u00a0<\/p>\n After Mego\u2019s 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\u2019Hare\u2019s objection, he felt encouraged by Burnam\u2019s solidarity.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI was just shocked that somebody would do that, and then I felt very encouraged. He gave us hope,\u201d Mego said of Burnam. \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"(Christine](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260804_CommissionersCourt-35-1024x683.jpg\")
County Judge Tim O\u2019Hare, 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)<\/p>\n![\"(Christine](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260804_CommissionersCourt-4-1024x683.jpg\")
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)<\/p>\n