A former police officer in Tennessee has won an $835,000 settlement from a county and its sheriff that jailed him for 37 days after he posted a meme about Charlie Kirk’s assassination referencing President Donald Trump’s reaction to a separate shooting.
The settlement in the case before the US District Court for the Western District of Tennessee was announced Wednesday by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which represents Larry Gene Bushart Jr.
Bushart agreed to drop his claims against Perry County, Tenn., and Sheriff Nick Weems and Investigator Jason Morrow, while Weems and Morrow won the right not to have to admit “wrongful conduct” in the matter, the agreement says. The settlement is dated May 14.
He alleged that he was jailed for 37 days over a meme he shared on social media after the death of the conservative political activist, who was killed last September. The charge of suspicion of threatening mass violence was later dropped.
The retired law enforcement officer posted several memes on Facebook in response to Kirk’s shooting, including one that featured a quote from Trump—referencing a 2024 shooting at Perry High School in Iowa—to “get over” the crime, according to his complaint.
Bushart claimed his arrest violated his First and Fourth Amendment rights and constituted false arrest and malicious prosecution.
Weems had publicly claimed that Bushart’s meme “might have caused ‘mass hysteria’ if interpreted as a prediction of what President Trump might say” after a hypothetical shooting at Perry County High School in Tennessee, unrelated to the school Trump had referred to. While he was jailed, Weems “mischaracterized the Meme” to local media, declaring that Mr. Bushart posted it “‘to indicate or make the audience think it was referencing our Perry High School,’” he claimed in the complaint.
“I am pleased my First Amendment rights have been vindicated,” Bushart said in FIRE’s press release. “The people’s freedom to participate in civil discourse is crucial to a healthy democracy.”
Phillips & Phillips PLLC also represents Bushart. Pentecost, Glenn & Tilly PLLC represent Perry County and the individual defendants.
The case is Bushart v. Perry Cnty., Tenn., W.D. Tenn., No. 1:25-cv-01288, settlement 5/14/26.
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