A retired police officer won a $835,000 settlement from the Tennessee officials who had a hand in jailing him for 37 days after he posted a meme making light of Charlie Kirk's assassination.
Larry Bushart, 61, of Lexington, Tennessee, made the post ten days after a gunman fatally shot Kirk at Utah Valley University, according to the federal lawsuit he filed in December against Perry County.
The suit also named the county's sheriff, Nick Weems, and Jason Morrow, the investigator who obtained the arrest warrant for Bushart, as defendants. He accused them of violating his constitutional right to free speech.
'I am pleased my First Amendment rights have been vindicated,' Bushart said in a statement announcing the settlement Wednesday. 'The people's freedom to participate in civil discourse is crucial to a healthy democracy. I am looking forward to moving on and spending time with my family.'
Cary Davis, an attorney for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which helped represent Bushart, celebrated being vindicated in civil court.
'It’s in times of turmoil and heightened tensions that our national commitment to free speech is tested the most,' Davis said. 'When government officials fail that test, the Constitution exists to hold them accountable. Our hope is that Larry’s settlement sends a message to law enforcement across the country: Respect the First Amendment today, or be prepared to pay the price tomorrow.'
The defendants did not admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement that was reached with the sheriff's office and the county government.
In September 2025, Bushart shared a meme under a Facebook post promoting a candlelight vigil for Kirk in his area. At the time, many such events were happening across the country as people mourned the conservative activist.
Larry Bushart, a 61-year-old retired police officer in Tennessee, was jailed for 37 days following a September social media post he made that mocked a local candlelight vigil being held in honor of Charlie Kirk. He just won an $835,000 settlement against Perry County officials
Bushart made the post 10 days after Kirk, a conservative activist, was fatally shot at an event at Utah Valley University
Bushart made this post underneath a post about the Kirk vigil. He quoted President Donald Trump, who said 'we have to get over it' in reference to a school shooting at Perry High School in Perry, Iowa. He was arrested because officials interpreted it as a threat against local Perry County High School
The meme Bushart shared quoted President Donald Trump, who said 'we have to get over it' the day after a January 2024 shooting at Perry High School in Perry, Iowa, that left a sixth-grader dead.
The meme included the text, 'This seems relevant today.' Bushart's suit said he did not create the meme or add the text above it.
Officials claimed some residents were under the impression that Bushart was threatening violence against local Perry County High School, a similarly-named, but separate school from the one in Iowa.
The day after the post was made, the Perry County Sheriff's Department sent a Lexington police officer to his home.
After Bushart refused to take the post down, he was arrested by Lexington police later that night at the direction of Weems, according to the lawsuit.
In a statement to The Tennessean last year, Weems said his investigators believed 'Bushart was fully aware of the fear his post would cause and intentionally sought to create hysteria within the community.'
Bushart was subsequently charged with reckless threat of mass violence on a school property, a felony.
Body camera footage obtained by The Intercept showed a police officer reading this charge to a handcuffed Bushart as he was being led into the Perry County Jail.
While Bushart was in jail, he claimed he missed his wedding anniversary with his wife and the birth of his granddaughter
Perry County Sheriff Nick Weems, who was named in Bushart's lawsuit, said in an interview in late October that he knew Bushart had no intention of threatening a local high school. This admission directly led to Bushart's release the next day
'At a school?' Bushart said to the officer, who responded, 'I have no idea. This is what they called us for, and I ain't got a clue.'
Bushart laughed and said all he had done was post on Facebook, while denying he had threatened anyone.
Prosecutors dropped the charge on October 29 and Bushart was released that same day. But for over a month, he stayed in jail because he could not pay the bond amount, which had been set at $2 million.
During that time, Bushart said he lost his post-retirement job and also missed out on his wedding anniversary and the birth of his granddaughter.
In his lawsuit, Bushart accused Weems of being biased against him, particularly because Weems had promoted the Charlie Kirk vigil that Bushart decided to mock.
Weems had also shared sentiments condemning Kirk's murder, saying in one now-deleted post: 'Evil could be standing right beside you in the grocery store. It could be your own family member and you never even know it.'
Bushart's lawsuit also referenced an interview Weems did with WTVF-TV in late October.
In that sit-down, Weems admitted that investigators knew Bushart was not talking about Perry County High School in his post, but rather a different school some 700 miles away that had a deadly shooting nearly two years earlier.
'We knew,' the sheriff said. 'The public did not know.'
As a direct result of that admission, the prosecutor's office filed a Nolle Prosequi motion the next day, ending the criminal case against Bushart.