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A former mayoral candidate is suing the city’s former mayor and police chief, alleging they filed false criminal charges against him two days before last year’s election in retaliation for his campaign promise to fire the police chief.
Phil Friese filed the civil rights lawsuit Oct. 21 in Marion County Circuit Court against former Mayor Carol Duss, former Police Chief Brad Harper and city council candidate Nancy Pucci. The suit alleges malicious prosecution and First Amendment retaliation under both the Arkansas Civil Rights Act and federal civil rights law.
Friese lost the Nov. 5, 2024, mayoral race by a single vote, finishing third and missing the runoff by the slimmest possible margin. The criminal mischief charge filed against him on Nov. 3 was later dismissed by prosecutors, who said they could not prove criminal intent.
The sign incident
According to the lawsuit, the charges stemmed from an Oct. 12, 2024, incident involving campaign signs at the intersection of Rivercliff Drive and Highway 178. Friese had stopped to repair his own campaign sign, which had been damaged. He also repositioned other candidates’ signs that had been leaning against his sign after the property owner moved them while mowing.
The following day, Pucci filed a complaint with the Bull Shoals Police Department claiming Friese had damaged her campaign sign. Harper told the Baxter Bulletin that a game camera had captured 52 photographs showing the signs upright before Friese arrived and Pucci’s sign on the ground with a broken weld and bent frame afterward.
Friese was cited for criminal mischief on Nov. 3, two days before the election. Harper publicized the charges to the Baxter Bulletin, which published the story the day before voters went to the polls.
Prosecuting Attorney Kerry Chism later entered a nolle prosequi, dismissing the charge. Chism told the court the state could not prove Friese had the criminal intent required for a conviction, acknowledging that any damage to the sign may have been accidental.
Lawsuit allegations
The lawsuit alleges the defendants “acted in concert to file false criminal charges” against Friese “in retaliation for his protected political speech and campaign activities.” Friese had campaigned on a platform that included removing Harper as police chief.
Friese is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, a public apology, a retraction and a jury trial. He is represented by Luther Oneal Sutter and Lucien Gillham of Sutter & Gillham in Little Rock.
Duss, Harper and Pucci are being sued in their individual capacities. Attempts to reach the defendants for comment were unsuccessful.
Pattern of arrests
Friese was not the only critic of the Duss administration to face criminal charges while running for office in 2024.
Merle Edward Fawcett, 60, who ran for the Ward 1, Position 1 city council seat, was arrested twice by Bull Shoals police for his conduct at city council meetings during the Duss administration.
Fawcett was first arrested April 16, 2024, at a special meeting called after former Mayor Michael Savu’s resignation. When Interim Mayor Tina Bailey gaveled down a citizen speaking at the podium, Fawcett began speaking loudly from the audience. He was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and obstruction of government operations for refusing to identify himself when booked.
At the June 27 council meeting, another confrontation erupted during citizen comments. According to court documents, Fawcett approached the podium waving the agenda’s comment guidelines and told Duss, “This little thing right here on this piece of paper ain’t worth the paper it’s wrote on, so don’t let me think you can’t speak up and say what you want.”
“This is a council meeting,” Duss interrupted, banging her gavel.
“Keep it shut,” Fawcett replied, pointing his finger at her.
Four city police officers advanced to the podium. “She doesn’t have the right to boot me out of this meeting. I have first amendment rights. I can speak however and whenever I want,” Fawcett told police, asking if they were going to arrest him again.
The meeting was abruptly adjourned. According to the probable cause affidavit, Fawcett shouted to officers as citizens were evacuated from city hall: “The next time I catch one of you guys without your lights on at 60-70 mph, I will run you down … tyrants.”
Fawcett told the Observer he was not making a threat. He said he was talking about confronting police officers who speed through town while cracking down on residents for barely exceeding the limit, a complaint lodged by main residents at the time.
Fawcett was arrested July 28 on a warrant for disorderly conduct stemming from the June meeting. He was also issued a letter signed by Bull Shoals District Court Judge Jodi Carney banning him from city hall property.
Mixed verdict
At Fawcett’s Aug. 26 trial, Judge Carney delivered a mixed verdict. On the April 16 arrest, she found Fawcett not guilty of disorderly conduct and not guilty of obstruction. Prosecutor Chism himself had argued that “the defendant has every right to stand mute” and the city cannot charge someone for refusing to talk. Carney found Fawcett guilty of a lesser refusal to submit charge, fining him $500.
On the June 27 charge, Carney found Fawcett guilty of disorderly conduct.
“With regard to this new charge that we heard today, I did find it offensive. I thought it was absolutely insane for a grown man to act that way,” Carney said from the bench. “I found the language offensive. I think it does constitute disorderly conduct. And a matter of fact, I think you’re lucky the prosecutors decided not to charge it as a felony terroristic threatening.”
Carney fined Fawcett $400 for the disorderly conduct conviction.
Defense attorney Benjamin Gibson had argued Fawcett’s comments were protected First Amendment speech, comparing them to “flipping an officer the bird.”
“I’ll tell you what, you can take it up with the Supreme Court,” Carney responded.
Fawcett lost his council race in November, receiving 405 votes (43%) to incumbent Daryl Lindman’s 533 votes (57%). Lindman was the only incumbent council member to retain his seat in an election that saw voters reject most of the city’s leadership.
Harper’s tenure
Harper’s tenure as police chief had drawn criticism on multiple fronts before his June 2025 resignation.
The Observer reported in July 2024 that Harper had been staying at a city-owned campground at Dam Site Park for free and did not live within city limits despite an ordinance requiring police officers to live within 20 miles of the city.
Former Police Chief Jim Kuchenbecker told the Observer he had required Harper to live within city limits when he originally hired him. Harper was rehired in 2017 after a force reduction, despite the residency violation.
In July 2024, the city council held a special meeting to change the police residency requirement from 20 to 25 miles. Critics said the move was designed to retroactively cover Harper and other officers living outside the original limits. City Councilman Wes Phelan admitted to the Observer that he had coordinated the vote through secret phone calls with Duss and Councilman Dino Giannini before the meeting, a violation of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
“I talk to City Council members on the phone. Yes,” Phelan said when confronted.
Harper resigned June 30, 2025, four months before Friese filed his lawsuit. Mayor Bill Stahlman, who defeated Duss in a December 2024 runoff, confirmed Harper’s departure. Jonathan Babb is serving as interim police chief.
Dysfunction at city hall
The arrests of Fawcett and charges against Friese occurred against a backdrop of escalating dysfunction at Bull Shoals City Hall.
Former Mayor Michael Savu, who resigned in April 2024 after just six months in office, later told the Observer he faced “constant undermining” from council members Phelan, Giannini and Michael Castagna.
“Since the day I took office, I had to work every day,” Savu said. “You had to keep a constant eye on every part of the city, especially because there was such undermining activity going on by the City Councilmen.”
Council meetings during the Duss administration devolved into gavel banging, shouting matches and threats to use police to remove residents. Duss and some council members repeatedly shut down public comments, often gaveling over speakers during their allotted time or adjourning meetings before citizens could reach the podium.
Duss was appointed mayor in April 2024 after Savu’s resignation. She advanced from the November general election but lost the December runoff to Stahlman, 283-250.
Former mayor’s arrest
The city’s governance troubles extend beyond the Duss administration. Former Mayor David Nixon was arrested in February 2024 on two felony counts, theft of property over $5,000 and abuse of office, after an investigation by the Attorney General’s Public Integrity Unit.
Investigators found Nixon received $5,915 in unauthorized Medicare Part B reimbursements between 2020 and 2022. No council authorization for the payments was found in meeting minutes. Nixon claimed “administrative discretion” but Savu, who took office in January 2023, refused to sign further reimbursement checks, triggering the investigation.
Nixon was released on $1,500 bond. Nixon’s court case is still ongoing and has been repeatedly delayed, drawing outrage from many voters in Bull Shoals.
Voters respond
Bull Shoals voters largely rejected incumbent leadership in the November 2024 election. Lindman was the only one of six council incumbents to retain his seat. Voters also ousted incumbent Recorder/Treasurer Tina Bailey.
Phelan, Giannini and Castagna, the three council members Savu had accused of undermining his administration, were all defeated.
Pucci, the defendant in Friese’s lawsuit who filed the original complaint about her campaign sign, won election to the Ward 3, Position 1 council seat, defeating incumbent Dale Forbus.
The lawsuit is pending in Marion County Circuit Court. A trial date has not been set.
