Lawyers say the bullet in Kirk’s case may not match the alleged murder weapon
An attorney for the man accused of shooting Charlie Kirk to death says federal authorities have not linked the bullet autopsy to the suspected murder weapon.
A settlement has been reached in the case of a Tennessee man who was arrested and charged with threats of gang violence in connection with a series of social media posts about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Larry Bushart, a former Huntingdon Police Department officer from Lexington, Tennessee, was arrested on Sept. 22 on charges of threatening to commit gang violence on school grounds or activities after posting a photo of President Donald Trump’s words in the Facebook comments section of a Perry County community group page.
He has been held on $2 million bail for more than a month, and his incarceration has caused him to lose his job as a medical transporter and miss his anniversary and the birth of his grandson, his lawyers said. After significant backlash from local residents and state officials, Bushart was released on October 29, and the district attorney dropped all charges.
In December, he filed a federal civil rights lawsuit accusing Perry County, Perry County Sheriff Nick Weems, and Perry County Sheriff’s Detective Jason Morrow of violating his First and Fourth Amendment rights.
The lawsuit was settled on May 20, according to a news release from the Individual Rights Expression Foundation, which represents Bushart.
In a joint statement, the parties announced that Mr. Bushart will receive $835,000 in exchange for dismissal of the charges. The settlement does not include any admission of wrongdoing by the defendants.
“I am pleased that my First Amendment rights have been vindicated,” Bushart said in a statement. “The freedom of citizens to participate in civil discourse is critical to a healthy democracy. I look forward to moving forward and spending time with my family.”
The settlement ends a highly publicized legal battle across the country following Kirk’s assassination and subsequent wave of First Amendment lawsuits in which people commented on Kirk’s death.
“No one should be hauled off to jail in the middle of the night over a harmless meme just because authorities disagree with the message,” said Adam Steinbaugh, FIRE’s chief prosecutor. “While we are pleased that Larry has been compensated for this wrongful act, local law enforcement should never have forced him to endure this ordeal in the first place.”
The Tennessean, a member of the USA TODAY Network, has reached out to the Perry County Sheriff’s Office for comment.
Settlement ends in lawsuit focusing on online free speech
Bushart was arrested after Kirk was killed on Sept. 10, after she shared a photo on a Perry County community group’s page of her plans for Kirk’s wake.
The photo showed President Trump saying, “We must get through this” after the January 2024 school shooting in Perry, Iowa, that left one person dead and seven injured.
Bushart was arrested several hours later by Lexington police at the direction of Perry County Sheriff Nick Weems, who told The Tennessean that Bushart had posted the photo “to suggest or cause the viewer to believe that he was referring to Perry High School.”
“This led teachers, parents and students to conclude that he was talking about a hypothetical shooting that occurred at our school,” he said. “A lot of people have contacted us with concerns.”
Cross-referencing of the photos by The Tennessean revealed that the image had been posted multiple times on multiple social media platforms unrelated to Bushart, dating back to 2024.
“Investigators believe that Mr. Bushart was fully aware of the fear his posts would cause and intentionally sought to cause hysteria within the community,” Weems said.
Steinbaugh previously told The Tennessean that Weems had filed a series of records requests with Perry County Schools seeking communications that would better portray the hysteria that Bushart’s posts caused.
According to Steinbaugh, they had nothing. The school said, “The sheriff handled the incident, but there is no record of it.”
Additionally, according to Bushart’s lawsuit, Perry County and Weems have refused to respond to multiple public records requests seeking information about the public’s reaction to Bushart’s statements.
But in their response to Bushart, the defendants denied that Bushart’s speech was protected by the First Amendment and said that even if the sheriff had violated Bushart’s constitutional rights, the officers had no way of knowing.
The closure of this case leaves only one Tennessee First Amendment lawsuit being represented by FIRE in the wake of Mr. Kirk’s death. That’s the case from Monica Meeks, a former Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance employee and state legislative candidate who was fired in response to a friend’s social media posts about Kirk.
“A nation’s commitment to free speech is most tested in times of turmoil and tension,” said Kayleigh Davis, a lawyer representing FIRE staff. “When government officials fail that test, the Constitution exists to hold them accountable. Our hope is that (Bouchardt’s) settlement sends a message to law enforcement across the country: If you don’t respect the First Amendment today, be prepared to pay the price tomorrow.”
USA TODAY Network – Coverage of First Amendment issues in the Southern region is funded through a collaboration between Freedom Forum and our journalism funding partners.
Want to talk? Email Angele Latham at alatham@gannett.com or follow @angele_latham on X.
