this post was submitted on 21 May 2026
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He Was Jailed Over a Charlie Kirk Post. The Sheriff Now Owes Him $835,000. (www.nytimes.com)
submitted 1 week ago by geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml to c/progressivepolitics@lemmy.world
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A Tennessee man who was jailed for 37 days over a Facebook post he shared after the killing of Charlie Kirk has agreed to a $835,000 settlement with the sheriff who detained him, his lawyers said on Wednesday.

The fatal shooting of Mr. Kirk, the conservative activist, last September set off an avalanche of social media commentary across the country. With it came firings, resignations and a debate about the boundaries of free speech. But Larry Bushart, the man arrested in Tennessee, was perhaps the only person charged with a felony after his posts about Mr. Kirk’s death.

In the posts, he shared memes that accused Mr. Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, of perpetrating hate and another that included past comments from President Trump about moving past a school shooting. The sheriff’s office in Perry County, Tenn., claimed that with those posts, he had threatened violence.

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[–] NullPointerException@lemmy.ca 42 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The problem is that’s not the sheriff who owns him money, but the tax payers. IIRC, sheriffs are elected. So, they should remember that next election. (But we all know they won’t)

[–] dan1101@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Best likely scenario MAGA voters might remember this sheriff cost taxpayers $800,000 and vote for another MAGA candidate, but that's about the best I would expect from them.

Never mind they won't even care about that, they will think it was worth paying $800,000 to "own the lib."

[–] Blibly@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

If they want to pay me nearly a million to "own" me that's cool with me.