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Fannin County courthouse feud continues with new investigative filing, lawsuit possible
By Austin Hedgcoth Published: Jul. 21, 2026
FANNIN COUNTY, Texas (KXII) - Two Fannin County commissioners and two oth-
ers have filed a petition to investigate dropped felony theft charges, a legal step that could lead to a lawsuit against former county officials and the county itself.
Allen “AJ” Self, Dean Lackey and two additional petitioners filed the petition under Texas Rule 202, which allows for an investigation before a formal lawsuit is filed.
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ered hundreds of thousands of dollars and my complaint about the commissioner’s court shutting all that down. We accepted the building as being complete when it wasn’t. We passed up on a chance to get maybe a couple million dollars for the county. Passed up on that. Voted time and time again. Got rid of my attorney that was helping me on the case. Got rid of my maintenance man who knew what was wrong with everything. Interesting. There are allegations made that generally a request for a 202, that’s a discovery deposition. There are things I can talk about and things I can’t talk about. I can’t talk about what went on at the grand jury. I can’t talk about other things that are prohibited by law. I’ve got an attorney who’s going to be involved in the process. It’s going to go through the court system. How did we get here? When I first got in office, there were obviously things wrong with the courthouse. Continued See Lawsuit possible on page 6
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determine whether their constitutional rights were violated when they were charged and to potentially file a lawsuit for malicious prosecution, which could have implications for local taxpayers. Judge Cunningham responds Judge Cunningham addressed the allegations during Tuesday morning’s Fannin County Commissioners Court meeting. His full statement can be found at the bottom of this article. “It’s been alleged that I didn’t go to law enforcement,” he said in part. “By golly gee I did go to law enforcement. I went to the FBI because I knew the FBI was involved and could trust them.” Other parties involved in the case did not respond to requests for comment. In lieu of an interview or a written statement, Judge Cunningham asked us to publish his comments from the meeting Tuesday morning. His full speech is as follows: “I had stopped talking on the subject of the courthouse and the repairs that needed to be done and the lawsuit where the county could have recov-
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The original charges against Self, Lackey and the others stemmed from a courthouse restoration project. Background on the case In 2024, the Fannin County District Attorney’s Office charged former Judge Creta Lynn “Spanky” Carter, commissioners Self and Lackey, and architects involved in the courthouse restoration project with felony theft. The DA’s office later passed the case to Dallas County prosecutors due to a conflict of interest. Dallas County dropped the charges last summer, citing a lack of sufficient evidence. What the new petition claims The petitioners allege that former District Attorney Richard Glaser and outgoing Judge Newt Cunningham initiated the court case without involving law enforcement. The filing claims the theft charges were brought based solely on witness testimony to a grand jury, with no police reports. Self and the other petitioners are now seeking documents and testimony of their own. The end goal of the filing is to
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