The Panola County sheriff and his wife are suing a Columbus-based Substack writer for libel.
In a civil complaint filed Tuesday in Panola County Circuit Court, Sheriff Shane Phelps and Melissa Meek Phelps claim Shannon Evans made false and defamatory claims about them in her Substack, “Shannon’s Stack.” Substack is an online publishing platform for independent creators.
Evans is the second defendant in the case with James Parttridge listed as the primary defendant. Parttridge is being sued for both slander and libel.
The complaint additionally lists an unspecified number of “John Does” as codefendants and 10 unnamed “John Does” as coplaintiffs.
A civil complaint lays out a plaintiffs legal argument. Libel is a false and defamatory statement that was written. A slander claim means the statement was made orally.
This is not Evans’ first time being sued for libel. In February 2025, Sean Harrison, head of school at Heritage Academy, filed a civil complaint against Evans in Lowndes County Circuit Court suing for libel and slander for statements she made about him on social media and her podcast, “Tombigbee Tales.” A trial date has not been set.
The Phelpses’ complaint claims both Evans and Parttridge participated in a “sustained campaign of defamatory livestreams, online articles, social media publications, republications and coordinated commentary” accusing both Shane Phelps and Melissa Phelps of dishonesty, corruption and criminal conduct.
The complaint claims Parttridge made multiple false statements accusing them of bribery, fabricating criminal charges and general misconduct, among other things on multiple Facebook live videos at the end of April. The claim also accuses Evans of amplifying these claims on Substack and by participating in the livestreams.
The complaint alleges that Evans, in an article published on her Substack April 30, implied Shane Phelps is dishonest, constitutionally impaired and “falsely and misleadingly implied that Sheriff Phelps is Brady-Listed, should be Brady-listed, or is presently Brady/Giglio impaired as a witness.”
A Brady list, also called a do-not-call list or a Giglio list, is a list kept by prosecutors of law enforcement officers whose past makes them problematic witnesses to call. Shane Phelps, multiple times in his complaint, denies that he is or has ever been on a Brady list.
In a subsequent article published May 3, Evans “falsely portrayed” Melissa Phelps as having falsely accused Parttridge in retaliation to his claim that she and Shane Phelps violated Parttridge’s First Amendment rights.
Parttridge filed a civil complaint in the Northern Mississippi District Court in November 2024, alleging Panola County, Shane and Melissa Phelps, and other officials violated his First Amendment rights. This case has yet to be resolved.
The Phelpses claim Evans’ May 3 article reads that “a court” supported the retaliation claim and that the article “materially overstated, distorted, and republished allegations as facts and omitted contrary context” when discussing Parttridge claim.
Shane Phelps did not respond to The Dispatch’s request for comment by press time.
Evans declined to comment when reached by The Dispatch. She and Parttridge were served the complaint Tuesday, according to court records. On Wednesday, both Evans and Parttridge posted about receiving the complaint on Facebook.
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