37 Days in Jail and $835,000 For Posting a Meme

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]Is there a Mr. Larry that lives here? It is.  I had spoken with a Perry County investigator.

[00:00:05]They wanted me to come speak with him about  something. He had just called me and said that there was some concerning posts that  were made on on Facebook. On Facebook. Yes, sir. And they sent you guys. They did. A  Tennessee sheriff had a man jailed for 37 days for posting a meme that he did not like. They  said that something was insinuating violence. No, it wasn't. And they may be in contact with  you. That's fine. Okay. I appreciate it.

[00:00:35]Hello. Briar here. Yeah. Please right there.  Okay. Hey, Mr. Larry. They've ended up issuing a warrant for you. Okay. So, you're going to have  to come with us. We'll get you booked in. We'll get all this figured out and then you'll have to  take it up with them in their court. Okay. Okay.

[00:00:54]Then he got sued and lost and now the taxpayers  in his county are on the hook for $835,000. This was an outrageous violation of the Constitution. I  mean, no American should experience this injustice um of being jailed for a political meme on  Facebook for even 10 minutes, let alone 37 days.

[00:01:17]And we're really hoping that this result  sends a powerful message to law enforcement um to respect the constitution or be prepared  for a heavy price tag. But the sheriff who did it isn't sorry at all. How do you say to  your constituents, I did nothing wrong, but I also agreed to pay the person I did  nothing wrong to almost a million dollars.

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[00:03:03]They said that something was insinuating violence  and they may be in contact with it. That's right.

[00:03:09]But he wasn't intimidated. He knew his rights and  he didn't back down. So then the sheriff obtained an arrest warrant that he knew was false and had  Larry arrested and put in jail for over a month.

[00:03:25]Perry County has called back again. Okay. Uhhuh.  And they've ended up issuing a warrant for you.

[00:03:30]Okay. So, you're going to have to come with us.  In America, we do not jail people for political speech. Yet, Larry Bushart spent 37 days  behind bars simply for posting a meme in a Facebook group. This is what they charged with.  Okay. Threatening mass violence at a school.

[00:03:49]That video was a collaboration with FIRE, a  national nonprofit first amendment advocacy organization who had just filed the civil  rights lawsuit against Perry County, Tennessee, Sheriff Nick Williams, and investigator Jason  Marorrow for multiple constitutional violations that caused Larry to sit in jail for 37 days  unconstitutionally. He's arrested, $2 million bail, and what happens? He just sits there for  37 days. pretty much. I may have been, but that's not illegal. Sometimes these civil lawsuits  can take years to reach a final resolution, but this one didn't. It was just settled with  the parties mutually agreeing to a settlement, which was just announced in a press release  on FIRE's website. That agreement is that Larry Bushart will receive $835,000 in exchange  for dismissing his lawsuit. Mr. Bushard says he is pleased his First Amendment rights have been  vindicated. While he was in custody, he lost his postretirement job, missed his anniversary and  the birth of his grandchild. Now Bushart says he is looking forward to moving on and spending  time with his family. Despite costing taxpayers in his county almost a million dollars due to his  total disregard of Larry's constitutional rights, Sheriff Nick Williams remains defiant, blaming  everyone but himself. Thank you, Audrey. We reached out to the Perry County Sheriff's Office  about this settlement. Sheriff Nick Whims sent us a statement saying in part, "The defendant's  online actions placed fear in multiple residents and we were asked to investigate." The sheriff's  office charged the defendant based on a Tennessee law that went into effect in 2024. The sheriff's  office had nothing to do with defendants's $2 million bond, nor his 37 days in jail. That falls  solely on the judicial system and the defendant's attorney. I got a chance to talk to fire attorney  Carrie Davis, who is one of Larry's lawyers, about the case and about the settlement. What  was the ultimate resolution of this lawsuit?

[00:05:59]So, we are very pleased to have secured an  $835,000 settlement on Larry's behalf here. Um, and we're really hoping that this result  sends a powerful message to law enforcement um to respect the Constitution or be prepared for  a heavy price tag. Did the sheriff ever accept any accountability for his actions in this incident?  No, they uh the defendants denied liability or wrongdoing in the settlement itself. Um which is  pretty standard for these kinds of agreements, but um they didn't admit any wrongdoing. I saw  that the sheriff had made a public statement about the settlement. Is that something  that you guys are prepared to respond to?

[00:06:44]Um I mean we so we issued a joint statement  as with the sheriff's office as part of the um settlement which is available on our website if  if people are interested. Um, we obviously support the sheriff's right to speak his mind, you know,  just as Larry was, um, you know, to speak his, but the fact that Larry spent a single night in  jail, you know, let alone 37 falls squarely on the sheriff and the investigator's decision  here to turn Larry's political speech into a crime. Why was this case important for you  guys to take on in the first place? This was an outrageous violation of the Constitution. I mean,  no American should experience this injustice um of being jailed for a political meme on Facebook  for even 10 minutes, let alone 37 days. So, I think, you know, as a principal defender of free  speech, it was important to us um because of how, you know, extreme this was. you know, we do  this for because we care about the principles and we care about the Constitution. Um, and we're  a proono organization. So, Larry never, you know, was charged anything from us and so we we do  appreciate people's donations and support. What was Larry's um reaction to the settlement? Was  he happy with it? Yeah, he was. I mean, he never should have experienced this to begin with. So,  he didn't ask to be jailed for 37 days um for his speech, but given that he faced that injustice,  um he's pleased with the result. Whether you agree or disagree with Larry's views, you know, everyone  should be very alarmed or concerned at the idea of the police arriving in the dead of night to drag  someone off to jail for their speech. Um, and I think something that's distinctive about this case  is the outrage that it generated in um, you know, I mean, in the media and we've been heartened  to see kind of across the political spectrum, agree or disagree, people kind of understand  the principles at stake here. Just today, people were sending me uh, links to this story  in Texas of this woman who got who got arrested for saying something on Facebook. Have you guys  been following that yet? I haven't seen that one specifically, but I'm sure I'm I'm hoping that  people, you know, will think of us after after this settlement and um if they have a case, submit  it on our website. Free speech for all. You know, whether you agree or disagree with a person, um  it's important that we maintain our commitments to our freedoms in turbulent times especially.  Uh so that's what I would encourage people to do. Where where are you based out of? I'm in the  Philly office. We have a Philly office and a DC office. And do you you get to practice all over  the country? I do. Yeah. It's one of the cool things about doing First Amendment law is there's  it tends to be in federal court and um we have cases all over all over the place. The last time  I met with law students, I told them I think if I had to do it over, I would I would work for some  sort of nonprofit law firm where you get to do interesting work all over the country. I love it.  I think it's a dream job personally. So I if any law students are watching, I would encourage you  to pursue, you know, what you care about, causes that you care about. How long have you worked  for FIRE? I've been at FIRE only since September, so I'm relatively new to the organization. Um,  but it's it's been great so far. And what what made you want to take that job? I actually worked  here in law school as like a legal intern. Um, and loved it. loved the people, loved the work, and  uh wanted to come back full-time. When you guys settled this case, did you Was this done in person  or was this settled with like a remote mediation?

[00:10:40]It was in person. Yeah. So, we went down to um  federal court in Jackson, Tennessee, and had a um mediation uh conference there um and ended up  resolving it. Was that your first time in Jackson, Tennessee? It was yeah it was my colleague um our  former colleague David Rubin was the lead attorney on the case he's no longer with fire but he had  been to Jackson a couple of times um previously you know just in connection with the case but it  was my first time there and any thoughts opinions on Jackson Tennessee what was it like um it was  very pretty it was very sort of n natural like a lot of greenery um I didn't spend too much time  there um since it was you know I saw the inside of the room that we were in mostly, but um it was  very pretty. I'm glad you guys ended up settling.

[00:11:34]This seems to me like a great settlement. How  do you value that? 37 days in jail. You know, I've I've settled false arrest cases before where  the insurance companies that who are valuing the case are like, "Well, we will agree to give you  at most like $30,000 per night or something like that or x amount of dollars per night." And I  think I the ones that I had litigated generally like one or two nights, three nights, something  like that. Was was there any discussion or back and forth that you can share as far as how do you  value somebody spending 37 nights in jail? I mean, it I take your point. It's a little bit of an  abstract kind of a question of how do you how do you value something like that? Um, and I I  can't get into the specifics of the settlement negotiations themselves, but um, I do think that  $835,000 is uh, significant. And um, I know that, you know, we're pleased with that number and  and Larry's pleased as well. Yeah. I mean, it's like there's two ways to do it. One is you  look at the individual and say all right this is you know this is what he's this is what his lost  wages are and this is you know how difficult for it was for him away from his family for for each  of these days and then I guess the other way is is you can go through other similar cases that  have settled or gone to verdict around the country and say look this is what this jury verdict was  and it's sort of similar to this one and that's kind of hard to do because a lot of these cases  settle and unlike here I mean it's good we know the settlement amount but in a lot of places  like you see the news reports where the lawsuit was filed and then just nothing um because and  and the public never hears what the settlement amounts were and the law and lawy other lawyers  never hear what the settle settlement amounts were and so then it becomes very difficult to  to settle, you know, find evaluation for these types of cases to try to settle them because  there's just almost no data on, you know, what they're worth. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's a great  point. And I think I mean part of FIRE's mission, we um, you know, litigate these cases in court and  we also have as part of our mission um to persuade the court of public opinion about free speech.  So um you know talking about the case and talking about the settlement is kind of part and parcel of  the advocacy that we do. Um and so we are hoping that this settlement can be kind of an example um  you know for law enforcement to kind of understand that this is these are serious violations. Yeah.  Yeah, I mean the the sheriff can say what he wants to say, but you know, it's like, trust me, no  government entity is agreeing to an $800 plus thousand settlement if they don't internally  believe that they did something wrong. I mean, we we certainly maintain that Larry's rights were  violated. Um, of course, you know, they can decide to uh not admit liability in in the settlement  itself, which is what they did here. But, um, we, you know, we maintain that Larry's rights were  violated. How do you say to your constituents, I did nothing wrong, but I also agreed to pay the  person I did nothing wrong to almost a million dollars. Yeah. It's um a and also reelect me next  time. Yeah. Yeah. It's an elected the sheriff is an elected position. So, um yeah. I mean, we have  we have in in 2026, we have a word for that or a phrase, whatever. I'm not sure if it's one word,  but gaslighting. You know, you know, obviously the one thing happened, but I'm going to tell you  something completely different and just lie to you essentially. I mean at the end of the day the  um you know the insurance company is literally writing the check but at the end of the day that  comes down to taxpayers who are paying for these insurance premiums. So it's um something  that people should you know be upset about in my view. We the people have very few remedies  against our government officials when they violate our rights. Actually we really only have one  remedy. We can sue them for money damages under the federal statute 42USC1983. And even then,  they can assert qualified immunity. So, it's not easy to do. That's all we've got. Of course, they  could be prosecuted by other government officials for violating the law, but we have no control over  that. They could also be fired by other government officials or otherwise disciplined. But again,  we have no control at all over that. All we the people can do is sue for money damages. Here the  end result is about as best that is in our power to achieve a substantial payment of money damages  for rights that were violated. That's a win but only a partial win in terms of accountability and  justice. Here, Sheriff Nick Williams is lying to the public, claiming that he did nothing wrong,  blaming the judicial system and even blaming Larry's criminal defense attorney. He claims  that it wasn't his fault that a $2 million bail was set. Wait, what? Why was bail set in  the first place? And what was it actually based on? It was entirely based on the arrest warrant  affidavit submitted under oath by investigator Jason Marorrow at Sheriff Nick Williams's  request. That affidavit was full of lies and omissions that directly caused Larry to sit in  jail for 37 days. The biggest thing was that investigator Morrow omitted from his affidavit the  information that the meme posted by Larry referred to a shooting that occurred in Iowa nearly 2 years  earlier in January of 2024. The affidavit falsely represented to the court that Larry's protected  first amendment speech was a threat to commit mass violence. In reality, the sheriff knew that  it wasn't. Where is the threat in their sheriff?

[00:17:52]Right here. Sheriff Williams says some in his  community took the reference in the Trump meme to Perry High School to be a threat to shoot up Perry  County High School, which had recently had to deal with a threat from a student. Whenever you come to  a Perry County page, okay? Uh that is set up to to let people know what's going on in Perry County.  And you post this talking about Perry High School shooting. It doesn't say Perry County High School.  It says Perry High School mass shooting one day after. Okay. that led people to believe in our  county that he's talking about Perry County High School because it doesn't say Iowa either. But  but you also knew this was an existing meme that was already out there on the internet. Correct.  And so it's clear he's not talking about Perry County High School. We knew. The public did not  know. If you want to know more about just how bad the sheriff and investigator Morrow screwed up  here, I'll post a link to the first video in the description below if you haven't seen it yet.  There's no point in rehashing it all again in this video. But the point is that police officers  cannot just blame the courts and pretend like they weren't involved because they are responsible for  what they submit to the courts. When they lie and they make material misrepresentations, it causes  otherwise valid arrest warrants to become invalid and now they can't hide behind them. In Frank's  versus Delaware, the US Supreme Court held that if an officer knowingly and intentionally or with  reckless disregard for the truth included a false statement in the affidavit and that false  statement was necessary to the finding of probable cause, the warrant is invalid. Why did  the sheriff agree to an $835,000 settlement even though he clearly did not want to? Because had he  gone forward with this litigation? This is exactly what would have happened. For all the reasons we  discussed in the first video, that warrant would have been thrown out by the federal courts and  Sheriff Williams would be exposed having nothing to hide behind. Now he's running for reelection  in Perry County, Tennessee. Remember that those who don't learn from their mistakes are doomed to  repeat them. If you have friends or family there, you may want to make sure that they are fully  informed about all of the documented misconduct of Sheriff Nick Whims. Thanks again to FIRE for  sharing the case with me. If First Amendment rights are important to you, check out their  website and consider donating. I have no doubt that I will be covering more of their cases and  you can follow along by subscribing both here and at the blog at the civil rightsawyer.com. You can  follow me on X and the other socials, JohnBrian ESQ. Remember, our rights don't end where your  fear begins. Freedom is scary. Deal with it.