Written by: – Tuesday, December 9, 2025
Decisions the Coal County Board of Commissioners made during three meetings Monday were ultimately deemed null after a review of state law found their vote to suspend an indicted sheriff was invalid because the board lacks the authority to issue such a suspension. The board’s legal counsel also said their appointment of an interim sheriff was invalid since Sheriff Jason Smith remains on the job.
KXII reported that the Coal County commissioners voted 2-1 Monday morning to suspend Smith and Undersheriff Jesse Yother with pay after a multi-county grand jury indicted the two men for an alleged assault this summer.
Smith, 48, is facing two misdemeanor assault charges for allegedly shoving his own wife and punching a deputy’s husband July 26. Yother, 64, faces a felony count of intimidating a witness and a misdemeanor count of obstructing an officer.
District 1 Commissioner Jon Fortner told the Texoma news outlet later Monday evening that he received a call from the district attorney handling the case telling him “Oklahoma law may only allow judges to legally suspend elected officials.”
Following the regularly scheduled meeting in which they voted to suspend Smith and Yother, the Coal County commissioners held two emergency meetings the same day. Both times, they entered executive session to discuss candidates for interim sheriff and to appoint Kenny Pebworth as interim sheriff.
Pittsburg County District Attorney Chuck Sullivan, who was assigned to prosecute the case following the recusal of Coal County District Attorney Tim Webster, told NonDoc on Tuesday that he and the board erroneously believed they had the authority to suspend Smith.
“They took that action, but upon further research, I discovered they do not have the legal authority to suspend,” Sullivan said. “So this suspension was invalid, and he remains the acting sheriff.”
Smith’s attorney, James Pasquali, said Smith has every right to remain acting sheriff of Coal County.
“He was duly elected in a democratic election back in November 2024, and we believe he’s still acting within his powers,” Pasquali said. “And anything that county commissioners did yesterday was ultra vires, and it was outside of their power.”
Pasquali said that although a mistake was made Monday, he appreciated Sullivan rectifying it.
“The county commission acted outside of their power, and these are powers that are reserved to the district court in this case,” Pasquali said. “I believe the Pittsburg County district attorney (…) rectified the mistake made by the Coal County commissioners, and we appreciate that. He knows what he’s doing. He’s a man of the law. He’s got a job to do, and I’ve got a job to do, but he corrected that mistake, in my opinion.”
Sullivan said that since the vote to suspend Smith was invalid, the board did not have to take any further action for the sheriff to remain on the job. He also said the vote to suspend Yother was valid because undersheriff is not an elected office.
“The board of county commissioners may, in the case of any county or township officer, present such accusation and bring an action in the name of the county for the removal of such officer, and the district court shall have exclusive jurisdiction,” Title 22, Section 1194 of state statute specifies.
The board, according to Title 22, Section 1195, can also ask for the officer to be suspended pending the investigation, and “the judge of the court may, if sufficient cause appear from the charge or from the testimony, or affidavits then presented, order the suspension of the accused from the functions of his office until the determination of the matter.”
The statute also allows an accused official to demand a trial within 10 days if the court is in session or on the first day of the next term if not. The official may also voluntarily suspend themselves.
None of the three Coal County commissioners returned voicemails seeking comment on the matter prior to the publication of this article. But Mary Eddings, the board’s secretary, did answer a few questions.
Eddings said it was District 2 Commissioner Nicholas Lee who cast the lone vote against Smith’s removal. She said Lee was the one who later requested a letter from Sullivan saying the vote was legal before Sullivan called back and told the commissioners their vote was not legal.
Asked if the board needed to reconvene to undo the appointment of Pebworth as interim sheriff, Eddings noted the general confusion about the whole situation.
“That’s a question that we want to know for ourselves,” Eddings said. “We don’t know. There’s a lot of unknowns. We were given bad advice.”
Sullivan said the vote to appoint Pebworth was also invalid owing to Smith’s suspension being invalid.
