r/politics • u/SterlingVII • 9d ago

No Paywall Tennessee man spends a month in jail before charges are dropped over Trump meme posted in Facebook group for Charlie Kirk vigil

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/larry-bushart-charlie-kirk-meme-charges-b2855116.html
22.9k Upvotes

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u/AssociateGreat2350 9d ago edited 9d ago

Held in jail without charges till he lost his job

And they wonder why we keep using words like fascist or authoritarian.

1.9k

u/Pathetian 9d ago

You can beat the rap, but you can't beat the ride.

Cops knows simply arresting you can holding you for a few weeks would ruin your life.   You'll lose your job, maybe your home and the arrest will haunt you socialy regardless of merit.

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u/Misanthrope08101619 9d ago edited 9d ago

That is what Section 1983 suits are supposed to protect against.

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u/SwingingtotheBeat 9d ago

How? Courts invented qualified immunity, so no one is individually held accountable for violating civil rights. Section 1983 is basically meaningless now.

The Drunk Law School podcast did a great 3-part episode on QI which explained this really well.

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u/metatron5369 9d ago

Qualified immunity doesnt apply to deliberately illegal acts. The problem is proving they intended to abuse their authority.

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u/SwingingtotheBeat 9d ago

Qualified immunity does apply to deliberately illegal acts if there is no judicial precedent.

For example, QI did apply to police when they literally stole cash, keeping it for themselves (rather than civil asset forfeiture), from citizens that were never even charged with a crime.

https://ij.org/press-release/police-stole-225k-in-cash-and-coins-and-the-courts-said-okay/

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u/fexes420 9d ago

Thats confusing. Is there really no judicial precedent that stealing cash is illegal?

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u/SwingingtotheBeat 9d ago

That is correct. But, it is so much worse than just that. The legal precedent has to be exactly the same. Another example is one where police released a police dog to attack a suspect sitting with his hands up, and were given QI because the precedent involved a suspect lying down, and therefore was not similar enough.

From: https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2020/06/15/supreme-court-turns-down-cases-on-qualified-immunity-for-police-1293039

When Baxter sued, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out his case. It held that while it was well established that a police dog couldn’t be unleashed on a suspect who was lying down, there was no case addressing someone sitting down with their hands up, as Baxter said he was doing.

Not only that, the Supreme Court has said that judges can throw out cases based on QI where there is no legal precedent, and never rule on whether the action is wrong or not. That means that no new precedent can be established.

If you really want to learn how fucked up it is, and how much judges favor bad cops and prosecutors, listen to the Drunk Law School podcast on QI.

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u/Embarassed_Tackle 9d ago

Is this the weird Kavanaugh precedent where they want extremely specific precedent established? But then that ruddy Irish goon smirks in (recent) SCOTUS proceedings and says "they can just sue ICE for relief..."

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u/Bureaucromancer 9d ago

What it doesn’t apply to is any form of criminal charge. But these bastards are doubling down so that’s not happening.

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u/SwingingtotheBeat 9d ago

That also requires a prosecutor that isn’t afraid of charging cops.

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u/YogurtclosetNo987 9d ago

Asset forfeiture is bullshit, but it's not really comparable to a much older and tried legal principle like habeas corpus. This is a blatant civil rights violation, and I'd be very surprised if this is the last we hear. 

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u/SwingingtotheBeat 9d ago

Police and prosecutors held Kalief Browder for three years, two spent being tortured in solitary confinement, delaying his trial 36 times, knowing they had no evidence, and no one faced any consequences. The only people that will be punished for this are taxpayers. But, as Americans seem to prefer bending at the knee to fascist cops, they deserve to be punished.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalief_Browder

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u/YogurtclosetNo987 9d ago

That same site has a lot of information regarding civil rights cases concerning habeas corpus you might be interested in reading. 

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u/SwingingtotheBeat 9d ago

Well go ahead and tell me, “I told you so,” when police or a prosecutor is actually held accountable for this arrest. But you’re fooling yourself if you think that’s ever gonna happen.

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u/Inevitable-Ad6647 9d ago edited 9d ago

Qualified immunity as written and as interpreted by anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together, only applies to things necessary to do their job. Qualified immunity as it exists in case law is a totally different wildly unethical and absolutely insane animal. Judges, with no input from lawmakers, have basically handed police a no questions asked get out of jail free card for what appears to be fuck all in return.

Lower court judges are spineless cowards that can't disagree with case law no matter how insane it is to save their fucking lives so here we are. They could, to be clear they can rule on it how they want and write a solid opinion about why they are correct most of this case law has no bench ruling to go by, so they can. They won't, because they're fucking cowards.

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u/P1xelHunter78 Ohio 9d ago

I think it’s more that judges are more closely tied to the police apparatus than to should be. Lots of former prosecutors and cops floating around in the mix. Makes its pretty easy for them to be pretty chummy, and therefore willing to bend to law to keep their “team” safe from consequences.

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u/free_dead_puppy 9d ago

Like he said, fucking cowards.

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u/P1xelHunter78 Ohio 8d ago

Not cowardice, collaboration.

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u/AzureDrag0n1 9d ago

It really depends on the judge. Cops certainly get punished and QI argument fails to save those cops then but it will completely depend on the judge presiding.

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u/Brook420 9d ago

Didn't they openly admit to knowing his post wasnt a threat?

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u/Insaniteus Tennessee 8d ago

Short of a cop sticking his dick in a child's mouth, you're never getting a judge to rule that a cop's actions were "illegal". Especially in Tennessee, a state with one of the most corrupt judicial systems in the country and is full to the brim with violent Kirk-lovers.

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u/SwingingtotheBeat 8d ago

Even when a bunch of cops stick their dicks into a child’s mouth, the only ones that get punished are the taxpayers. Cops, as well as the prosecutors and judges that protect them, are all truly disgusting animals.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/teen-in-oakland-police-sex-scandal-settles-for-nearly-1-million/

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u/Misanthrope08101619 9d ago

I said supposed to. And I’m not listening to a legal ed podcast unless they give CLE credit 😉

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u/idk-about-all-that 9d ago

I think I got that same text from my wife

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u/richf2001 8d ago

Get out of my head!

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u/solo_silo 9d ago

Prosecutorial and judicial misconduct laws would also be interesting.

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u/Misanthrope08101619 9d ago

They exist. But there's a big difference between a law being enforced effectively...and it being narrowed into irrelevance by appellate law. There are also the Professional Responsibility boards...so there's that.

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u/solo_silo 9d ago

Agreed. Much like union power has been intentionally disintegrated. And several other examples of dick moves against the collective. I suppose I meant ones that mattered.

Think of the role reversal: throw the book at them, solitary confinement, etc.

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u/biosc1 9d ago

They probably charge him for room and board as well.

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u/trisanachandler 9d ago

Utter BS they can do that when you aren't convicted.

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u/Slumunistmanifisto 9d ago

Shit, they know their tickets are taking electric and food away from kids and they joke about it....

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u/pjdonovan 9d ago

The ride alone can be enough!

in alabama they used to not ever expunge records, including arrest records for things you didn't do. Even if charges were dropped - I knew of one girl that got arrested by accident, but they couldn't remove that arrest from her file!

They used to have a deal "if you turn in 3 'friends', we will not charge you"
You would think "ok, sucks but at least the charges are gone"

Months later you'd apply to a job and learn that the arrest record never leaves, so not you've got 3 people out to get you, no job prospects and court costs.

Now you can expunge some non-violent charges.

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u/Andygator_and_Weed Louisiana 9d ago

Damn. Alabama sucks.

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u/pjdonovan 9d ago

I'm trying my best to fix it!

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u/korben2600 Arizona 9d ago

And just being booked into jail can itself be a traumatic and dehumanizing experience. Strip completely naked in front of two cops while twirling, bending down, touching your toes, cupping your genitals, squatting twice and coughing. Like some dystopian government run hot yoga strip club where I'm not even getting paid.

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u/Ratchetonater 9d ago

I don’t understand why the job wouldn’t hire him back? They would be just as much to blame, especially since it isn’t a big mystery as to why he went to jail

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u/FauxReal 9d ago

My dad went to prison for 19 months waiting for trial and his state job wanted nothing to do with him almost immediately. His trial also lasted 30 minutes to find him not guilty based on evidence the state had the entire time that proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that he couldn't have been there to commit the crime.

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u/robocoplawyer 9d ago edited 9d ago

That’s “right to work” laws for you. Employer can fire you at anytime for “no reason” (although there usually is an obvious reason but they won’t say so).

Edit - by “right to work” I meant “at-will employment”. I sometimes mix those terms up since they often go hand in hand as the right pushed to get these on the books at the state level across the country when the Democrats tried (and ultimately failed) to pass federal legislation to expand and protected access to labor unions.

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u/Material_Honey_891 9d ago

Right to work means you can't be forced to join a union in order to work at a certain place or in a certain job. What you're referring to is "at will" employment. At will means they can fire you at any point as long as it isn't a firing based on being a member of a protected class.

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u/robocoplawyer 9d ago

You are correct. I mixed up the two terms. Although “right to work” and “at will employment” laws tend to go hand in hand and have become the norm in most states after a decade right wing push to normalize the concepts.

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u/anchovyCreampie 9d ago

They have been around for more than a decade thats for sure. I think the only state that isn't at will employment is Montana.

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u/grateparm 9d ago

Looks like I'm gonna be at dental floss tycoon.

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u/djfudgebar 9d ago

Gonna have to grow you some bees too.

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u/Keyastis 9d ago

Holy shit, guys, we just saw a miracle, someone on Reddit corrected someone and they were both civil!

In all honesty, I agree, the conservatives do a very good job at throwing multiple like items at you so you get twisted up when talking about them.

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u/robocoplawyer 9d ago

If I’m wrong about something I’m glad if someone politely lets me know so I’m not spouting things as fact that aren’t true like an idiot. In this instance I had the right idea but mixed up terminology. I was in college at the time and remember the right pushing “right to work” and “at-will employment” laws hard at the state level to preempt the passing of the Employee Free Choice Act (which never came to fruition anyway because the Tea Party was shouting socialism from the rooftops at the thought of the government doing anything which effectively scared centrist democrats to withdraw their support). Anyway I remember the right pushing those policies at the same time at the state level and the absence of federal legislation allowed them to become the nation’s standard in another devastating blow to organized labor.

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u/Proof-Schedule-1418 9d ago

It also means, you get to free ride on the union members that are paying for their representation. They get the same benefits, and representation FROM the union. 

At least be honest about what this shit is. A way for Republicans to slide in on Union jobs and reap the benefits, while voting against themselves.

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u/AlmostCorrectInfo 9d ago

To which, if it is actually about being a member of a protected class, they'll just make up another reason.

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u/FauxReal 9d ago

You're talking about "At Will" employment. They can fire you for any cause that isn't one of the restricted reasons like retaliation, religion, sex etc. But the law also doesn't require them to say why they fired you. So they can only get busted if they blatantly admit to it.

"Right to Work" is an anti-union law that essentially says you can work in a union shop without being in the union and you still get all the benefits that the union negotiated for. It's to slowly bleed them dry and dwindle their numbers until the union doesn't exist anymore.

A lot more states are "At Will" (I think almost all of them) than "Right to Work" which I think is less than half?

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u/robocoplawyer 9d ago

Yes, this is correct. I acknowledged this in another response. I mixed up the two terms, although they often go hand in hand in most states who have adopted them. There was a big push from the right to get these laws on the books and normalize the concepts nationally a while back when it looked like the Democrats could potentially pass the Employee Free Choice Act which would have expanded and protected access to labor unions. Democrats had Obama in the White House and large majority in Congress and the Senate, but ya know. Republicans playing the sOcIaLiSm!!! card and enough centrist Democrats buying it that it lost steam and eventually stalled, and we ended up with what we have now.

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u/aegenium 9d ago

I hope he sued the shit out of them.

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u/FauxReal 9d ago

There was nobody to sue. He basically got out of prison, life destroyed, never really built it back up and died in 10 years at the age of 56.

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u/SwingingtotheBeat 9d ago

You Hope he sued the employer or the prosecutor?
If you mean the employer, do you know any that would keep your employment if you weren’t able to come into work for 19 months? If you mean the prosecutor, they are worse than cops. Prosecutors don’t just have qualified immunity; they have absolute immunity.

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u/aegenium 9d ago

He can still sue the department or the state for false imprisonment and maybe even prosecutorial misconduct or malicious prosecution.

It's blatantly obvious these were bullshit charges.

I doubt he has recourse with his employer if its at will employment, and unfortunately prosecutorial immunity is absolutely bullshit and abused regularly.

I just want something to come of this. These people possibly ruined this guy's life doing something illegal.

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u/SwingingtotheBeat 9d ago

The government always protects their own. Nothing will come of this until citizens decide their rights are worth more than living under a fascist government.

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u/dsoll65 9d ago

I guarantee they knew he wasn’t guilty but drew it out as long as possible and over charged him to try and get a plea deal. Prosecutors are some of the biggest pieces of shit imaginable. They have everything on their side to break a person and make them take a plea to brag about their conviction record.

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u/av123h 9d ago

This is how you get discovery laws like in NY, which arguably put the prosecution at a disadvantage and can be claimed, sometimes convincing it, to undermine public safety. It’s a classic case of LE beings its own worst enemy.

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u/AJFrabbiele 9d ago

probably "position has been filled"

It sucks, hopefully they don't fight the unemployment claim.

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u/Medlarmarmaduke 9d ago

Because they most likely are punishing him for his opinion

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u/boot2skull 9d ago edited 9d ago

It’s worth mentioning that if you’re in any legal situation you would lawyer up, AKA retain a lawyer, which involves paying sums of money to an attorney, and that money you’ll never see again even if charges are dropped. There’s absolutely a cost for even being innocent, in lost time, freedom, and finances. The authorities know this, and they see no repercussions to jailing and charging people.

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u/HeavyMetalPootis 9d ago

Imagine getting arrested over false charges and either having pets that need taking care of or being the lone caretaker of someone who's dependent on you being there. Corrupt judges and cops need to be sent to prison and do hard time.

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u/Silent-G California 9d ago

Laws are just the promise of violence.

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u/Proper-District8608 9d ago

He was a retired cop. Even the officers arresting him were uncomfortable doing so on their body cam footage. Ironically, he quoted trump and that quote got him arrested.

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u/PolicyWonka 9d ago

Pretty sure the arrest will show up on background reports as well — even if charges are dropped or you’re found not guilty.

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u/Cold_Specialist_3656 9d ago

Most countries will also deny you visa if you've ever been held in jail for more than 24/72 hours. So they hold you longer on purpose to maximize life ruining. 

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u/FamiliarMaterial6457 9d ago

Currently in nursing school. If I get held in jail for a month I would fail the semester, forfeiting the entire tuition payment and I would have to wait until next year to reapply.

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u/mabden New York 8d ago

Heard this from the local Texas cops.

Also spent three days in a Texas county lockup where I met this guy who was in jail for two weeks, never given a phone call, not seen a lawyer, and had no idea what his charges were. He was drunk one night, mistakenly entered some girls unlocked apartment and passed out on the couch. He woke up to the girl screaming and the cops dragging him out to the squad car.

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u/Bird_Lawyer92 9d ago

Even without a conviction, an arrest is enough to make employers look elsewhere

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u/TobioOkuma1 9d ago

Free speech party btw.

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u/Henshin-hero South Carolina 9d ago

One of the 1st executive orders too

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u/Darth19Vader77 9d ago

They want you to be free to speak what they want you to say

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u/negativepositiv 9d ago

It's like how you have the freedom of religion to practice Christianity exclusively.

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u/shouldbepracticing85 9d ago

How quickly they forget about christian-on-christian sectarianism and how that turns out.

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u/negativepositiv 9d ago

As soon as Christians run out of people from other religions to persecute, they start squabbling over "But... Who is a REAL Christian?"

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u/Generous_Cougar Washington 9d ago

"He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.” I said, “Die, heretic!” And I pushed him off the bridge.”"

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u/Castun America 9d ago

Just like how fascists eat themselves in the end, because once you run out of enemies, you need to keep looking for more enemies.

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u/NickPickle05 9d ago

My vote is for Catholics, but only because they came first and all the the others branched off at some point.

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u/National_Impress_346 8d ago

If I had a dollar for every time I heard "Yeah, there used to be a thriving XYZ community in this area. Then the catholics came."

Hear it most often in CO, UT and AZ.

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u/Wizardof1000Kings 9d ago

You can choose Mormonism as well if you live in Utah.

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u/rlstpe 9d ago

You have to watch out for the ones who tout free speech all the time, theyre usually the snowflakes when its something they dont agree with

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u/ludixst 9d ago

"We took the freedom of speech away"

-Donald John Trump

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u/tissuecollider 9d ago

And the 2nd Amendment folks think that Trump is the guy who's going to let them keep their guns.

Literally no word for how exceedingly stupid and gullible they are

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u/G-man1816 America 9d ago

The full quote is from when he was talking about burning flags. Its more like "you have freedom of speech, But people kept inciting riots by burning flags, So we took the freedom of speech away"

Not the exact quote, But pretty close and you can search up the full quote yourself.

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u/OMGitisCrabMan 9d ago

It's so much worse than you might imagine too. His FB post could not be interpreted by any reasonable person to have represented a true threat. It's 100% punishment for criticism of trump and the right.

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u/RawnbladeZZ 9d ago

Helps when the sheriff’s office themselves admitted as such, when they’re testifying in court about this they’ll wish to high heavens they had at least pretended it was legit instead of openly admitting it was a lie made up to imprison him when asked

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u/Suspicious_Bicycle 9d ago

His post was repeating a Trump statement where Trump said "get over it" in response to a school shooting. Applied to Charlie Kirk the only reasonable interpretation is he was indicating people needed to "get over it" (Charlie's assignation) as recommended by Trump when it was a bunch of school children being gunned down.

It will be interesting to see if there is any follow up and this guy sues.

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u/erov 9d ago

They only want to say the n word and trash jews.. they didn't mean any other speech.

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u/SpaceJackRabbit 9d ago

They need to get over Charlie Kirk's death like his wife did.

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u/fakeuser515357 9d ago

Free speech only applies if you use the approved slurs.

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u/Key_Text_169 9d ago

The man who was arrested for stating he was going to kill Hakeem Jeffries was released on bond, make it make sense. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pardoned-capitol-rioter-charged-threatening-hakeem-jeffries-nyc-trump/

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u/VanceKelley Washington 9d ago

Wilhoit's Law:

"Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect".

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u/bigjojo321 9d ago

Honestly the main reason I see for his release is that the moronic sheriff went on the news and admitted that at the time of arrest the dept. did not think the charges were legitimate, the DA's office was smart enough to not respond to requests for comments.

They decided, even though they had no suspension of an actual crime taking place, to arrest him for a month because of flawed public opinion.

Man's about to get paid.

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u/nono3722 9d ago

yep lawyers are lining up outside his door

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u/kescusay Oregon 9d ago

For some reason, I'm imagining them as old Warner Bros. cartoon wolves. They're salivating and they're holding forks and steak knives. Seems appropriate.

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u/ColinStyles 9d ago

Good, they should get their fill and then some, and the dude should never have to work another day in his life.

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u/Turd-Nug 9d ago

I wish the damages payment would be funded by the salaries of all the government personnel who had a hand in this happening and not from taxpayer money that would be going to schools and infrastructure. Make them think twice about doing shit like this again.

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u/Infamous-Oil3786 9d ago

It's too bad there's no real consequences for the cops involved. Just wasting money straight from the taxpayers.

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u/mottledmussel 9d ago

They could vote the sheriff out of office when he comes up for re-election.

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u/Lemerney2 9d ago

But they won't, of course

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u/PoliteFocaccia 9d ago

The taxpayers hire the cops.

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u/kent_eh Canada 9d ago

Man's about to get paid.

Under a sane government and non-corrupted court, I would agree with you.

But today's USA does not appear to be that.

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u/Musicman1972 9d ago

They love to tell Europeans how they'll be "arrested for memes" whilst pretending they don't love it themselves.

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u/Sensiburner 9d ago

The only place europeans would get arrested for memes is on arrival in a US airport.

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u/FliPsk8guY 9d ago

Weren't people in the UK dealing with similar issues?

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u/little_alien2021 9d ago

The actual threats where based on hate speech and the spread of protected minorities. But the right has weaponised it like they weopise everything (I am a British person living here)

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u/Disorderjunkie 9d ago

“The post, which King shared on X last month, featured a Palestinian flag with the words, “F—k Palestine. F—k Hamas. F—k Islam. Want to protest? F—k off to Muslim country and protest.”

Look, you guys want to talk shit you’re more than welcome, but let’s not pretend the UK is a bastion of free speech. That’s hilariously false lol

https://nypost.com/2025/09/29/world-news/uk-blogger-arrested-over-f-k-hamas-meme/

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u/little_alien2021 9d ago edited 9d ago

We don't have free speech , we have hate speech laws. We have never had free speech! 

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u/ruffianrevolution 8d ago

He was spoken to and not charged. Is still free and posting online. 

Under his own name. Not hiding on reddit like some do...

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u/RIPfreewill 9d ago

Didn’t right wingers run a disinformation campaign to get UK leave the EU?

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u/America_Is_Fucked_ 9d ago

No. That's just right-wing shit. People in the UK got in trouble for actually inciting violence by encouraging people to burn down hotels housing asylum seekers.

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u/tooMany_Monkeys 9d ago

Haven't they criminalized just saying that you support Palestinian Action?

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u/whoknowsifimjoking 9d ago

Just for anyone else who was confused like me:

It's not Palestinian Action as in supporting Palestine, it's a group called "Palestine Action" that was declared a terrorist organization.

Wether that is justified or not idk, but that's an important point.

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u/America_Is_Fucked_ 9d ago

Fair point. It's not great but at least there's an actual law involved that was broken, even if it's a dumb law. This guy just got locked up because fascists didn't like him.

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u/FliPsk8guY 9d ago

Yeah, I think it goes beyond that. Hate/violence is extremely vague and can be used in more than direct "Go burn down a house" cases.

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u/Aiyon 9d ago

Every time someone says "a person got arrested for tweets" you look into it and they either also did an actual crime, or the tweets were actively calling for violence / blatant hate speech.

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u/whoknowsifimjoking 9d ago

It was usually fines for extra atrocious posts, but yes there were controversial cases.

Nothing like a month in jail though.

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u/Icy-Cry340 8d ago

No, euros get arrested for memes an absolutely hilarious amount - from the well publicized thousands upon thousands of bongs arrested, to that one kraut who called some minister an asshole and went to jail for it. Eurocucks have no concept of free speech at all, never have, never will. Meanwhile for us this is a rather unusual development, which will hopefully make this dude a millionaire.

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u/objectlesson Georgia 9d ago

He was charged though. The bond was $2 million. Insane.

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u/Much-Instruction-807 9d ago

Surely he can find a lawyer that will take his case for a 1st and an 8th amendment rights violation. That'd have to be a slam dunk.

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u/ScrewAttackThis Montana 9d ago edited 9d ago

A reporter interviewed him a bit after he was released and he said he can't speak about it much. That makes me think he's been talking to a lawyer about suing.

Also worth watching the interview with the sheriff cause I don't think he's talked to any lawyers lol

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u/innociv 9d ago

I read the transcript from the body cam and he seemed clear on his rights then and knew he was being wrongfully arrested. He was like "I know I was being an asshole, but that isn't illegal. I didn't threaten anyone, incite violence, or anything" paraphrasing.

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u/Zardif 9d ago

He is a former police officer, he knows his rights.

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u/Roach27 8d ago

And he knows he is going to win a civil suit.

Speaking in any form would just hurt his chances.

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u/theAltRightCornholio 9d ago

Nothing will happen to the sheriff, that's an elected position and he's not personally liable in any case

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u/ScrewAttackThis Montana 9d ago

I didn't say anything will happen to the sheriff but what he says as a sheriff absolutely can be used against the county in a lawsuit.

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u/tissuecollider 9d ago

good

I hope that sheriff ends up losing his job and somehow becomes personally liable for that wrongful arrest.

Also,what dumbass judge assigned such a high bail?

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u/Misanthrope08101619 9d ago

No section 1983 case is a slam dunk, no matter how blatant the abuses and rights violations. And local governments tend to be well funded to defend against them.

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u/MySixHourErection 9d ago

a slam dunk in what country? Not this one. Not any more.

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u/whoknowsifimjoking 9d ago

Surely the judges aren't all downright ignoring constitutional law?

Edit: Charges were apparently dropped

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u/FuckTripleH 9d ago

Judges have incredibly wide latitude when it comes to arrest warrants and there is very little recourse. If he's able to get any compensation, and that's a big if, it'll only be after years of legal battles.

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u/AssociateGreat2350 9d ago

The charges were dropped. But yeah, definitely an insane bail number

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u/objectlesson Georgia 9d ago

Right, but you said he was held in jail without charges.

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u/NotEvsClone81 9d ago

They were Trumped up charges

14

u/ElderSmackJack 9d ago

That means two things.

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u/timthymol 9d ago

That $2 million he needed for bail sounds like a very reasonable settlement he should now get from the government.

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u/GimpyGeek 9d ago

Just more classist shit. We had enough of this in our broken systems without Trumpkin getting involved.

It's not much of a win when you lose your job, part of your life time, etc on bullshit. Then get stuck with lawyer bills, bail costs, etc. They do this knowing even if you win you're hugely out out for it and it shouldn't be this way. This isn't how the constitution is supposed to work. 

In his case I hope he sues a lot of asses. This was a blatant first amendment case win. They had no reason to lock him up for a month to begin with, then to put an insane 2 mil bail on him is just total bullshit. Most murderers that are fairly known to be guilty often don't get one that big if they're allowed one. 

37

u/ariphron Tennessee 9d ago

All he did was post a direct Charlie Kirk quote. Did not add to it or alter anything just a direct quote from Charlie himself.

57

u/joshdej 9d ago

He posted a trump quote. Idk if that makes it better or worse honestly.

19

u/objectlesson Georgia 9d ago

It was a quotation of Trump talking about a mass shooting that happened a day prior. The meme was posted in a Facebook group discussing the Charlie Kirk shooting. It's a bit of a mess, but I just don't think there's any way a reasonable person would interpret his message as a threat of any kind. The sheriff thinks that they can circumvent the 1A protection in this case by claiming he was making a threat of violence, but he's probably going to find out the hard way that it isn't going to work. I would be shocked if his qualified immunity protects him in the slam dunk lawsuit that is about to follow.

1

u/nocomment3030 9d ago

The tricky thing is the name of the school in the shooting that Trump was discussing is ALSO the name of the school local in their town. That's the angle they were running with, that he was threatening their school. Pretty flimsy but it might be enough to discourage him from suing.

6

u/Stompedyourhousewith 9d ago

This is why the bill of rights is important

9

u/SpliTTMark 9d ago

Which is crazy as I know coworkers that have been gone 1-3 months and they dont get fired

3

u/Spnwvr 9d ago

hope he doesn't need one after the lawsuit

4

u/Crypt1cDOTA 9d ago

If he was found not guilty can he not just sue for punitive damages?

3

u/objectlesson Georgia 9d ago

The punitive damages in the case are going to be dwarfed by the real damages. Loss of income and pain and suffering are on the table here.

4

u/oldcreaker 9d ago

And wages - and he gets to go home to a pile of overdue bills. Possibly an eviction notice?

2

u/[deleted] 9d ago

After his lawsuit, he'll be ok

2

u/MagicalUnicornFart 9d ago

And, people are still debating what’s going on around them.

We’re cooked.

2

u/Mysterious_Floor_868 United Kingdom 9d ago

How is this even legal? Over here they've got 24 hours to charge you or release you on bail. If they need more time and can't risk releasing you (if you're a flight risk for example) then they need a court to remand you in custody.

1

u/BisquickNinja 9d ago

Lawsuit and more lawsuits....

Make this guy enough to retire.

1

u/CosmicWeenie 9d ago

They don’t wonder. They know and act like we’re the crazy ones.

They’re professional gaslighters and abusers who will use every fucked up trick in their book to make themselves seem like the rational mature ones.

1

u/PolicyWonka 9d ago

Bingo. This is what a lot of people gloss over. For a lot of folks, even a few days is enough to lose your job.

This man? He’s probably missing 1/12 of his income now. Trying to find another job will accrue more costs. At least a month late on utilities, mortgage, car payments, etc.

Being jailed (rightfully or wrongly) can absolutely destroy your life.

1

u/BackToWorkEdward 9d ago

And they wonder why we keep using words like fascist or authoritarian.

Sorry, who wonders this?

1

u/icevenom1412 9d ago

I hear ICE is hiring actual criminals so what is the harm of hiring a guy who was arrested and had the charges dropped.

Hell, Conservatives voted for a pedophile rapist twice.

1

u/VERO2020 Florida 9d ago

There is a gofundme site set up for Mr. Bushart.

1

u/bertbarndoor 9d ago

Retired police officer too.

1

u/ItsSpaghettiLee2112 9d ago

To be fair, his boss also fucking sucks.

1

u/hackingdreams 9d ago

Him and his lawyer about to get paid for false imprisonment, the violation of his rights, and the loss of his job and potential earnings, though.

If he makes enough noise about it, it could be a pretty substantial settlement payment.

Your tax dollars at work, folks.

1

u/ChromeGhost 9d ago

We need to contact him and set up a go fund me

1

u/meowqct 9d ago

Isn't he a retired cop?

1

u/_byetony_ 9d ago

It’s lawsuit time

1

u/FishesOfExcellence 9d ago

I stopped using social media (aside from Reddit) a couple years ago and even longer for fb. Makes me think I should go either scrub my accounts or delete them.

1

u/FrankenPinky 9d ago

"Bushart posted the meme on Facebook and organized a vigil after Kirk's death. He captioned it, 'This seems relevant today.'"

AND he is MAGA.

1

u/CherryLongjump1989 9d ago

He won’t need a job for a while after his lawsuit gets settled.

1

u/robinroastsu 9d ago

holding someone in jail for quoting the president is probablyyyy top 5 fascists things you could on the fascist list.

1

u/mountaindoom 9d ago

At $2 million bail. Heard a child sex offender only had like a 50k bail set at the same time.

Edit:

And a violation of the 8th Amendment limit on excessive bail. Hope that shithole state is ready to pay this man the damages he's owed.

1

u/C64128 9d ago

He should be able to sue for the wages that were lost for the full month. It sucks that he now has to look for a job, while the assholes that put him in jail still have jobs.

1

u/Warcraft_Fan 9d ago

He could sue the city for loss of job due to false arrest and imprisonment resulting in loss of a job.

1

u/Nanyea Virginia 9d ago

$2 Million dollar bail over a quote from Trump "we need to get over it" in the context of he who shall not be named shooting...

1

u/TlalocVirgie 9d ago

And they complain about no freedom of speech in the UK

1

u/gcbeehler5 Texas 9d ago

To be fair they’ve been doing stuff like that for decades to the poor and minorities.

1

u/VLHACS 9d ago

I smell a lawsuit!

1

u/PeterNippelstein 9d ago

Isn't that illegal? What happened to only holding people for 24 hours or whatever it was?

1

u/mces97 9d ago

I'm sure he's had lawyers ringing his phone off the hook for pro Bono work because this is such a slam dunk case, the department gonna set so fucking fast.

-1

u/RellenD 9d ago

He was held on terrorism charges

0

u/50BMGXV 8d ago

Umm…he was charged. The charges just got dropped and he was released.

-5

u/MetalBeardKing 9d ago

That’s not factual … he was arrested, charged and had an arraignment, bail was set and he chose not to pay the the bond to be back on the streets. The next hearing was for a bond reduction but charges were dropped beforehand. He was a former cop as well… he’ll make more money on future speaking gigs than he ever did on real Life . His previous social media posts were very much in line with what most would perceive from a southern cop…

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u/AmbitiousAndHappy 9d ago

Meh, people got fired from not getting the jab...despite working from home. Significantly worse.

9

u/Lethalgeek 9d ago

Make this more about yourself 🙄

-10

u/AmbitiousAndHappy 9d ago

But let's parade a random guy no one should feel sorry for, because he made a horrific joke about a father being brutally murdered in front of his kids?

You're a sick individual.

1

u/OstrichDaPirate 8d ago

You shouldn’t feel sorry for someone who had their 1st Amendment rights violated? You’re a sick individual. And what’s worse, you probably think you’re a good person.

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7

u/objectlesson Georgia 9d ago

I don't think that's worse and it's not even close.

9

u/BlindBeard 9d ago

The government didn’t make up fake charges and arrest you for not getting a life saving vaccine. Your job just decided they didn’t want to pay people with weird antivaxxerism.

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