Joshua Andrew Garton was arrested in January 2021 after posting a meme depicting two people urinating on a gravestone with a photo of a Dickson County sheriff’s deputy who was fatally shot in 2018 pasted into the image. Garton’s attorneys filed a federal lawsuit in Nashville, saying their client’s First Amendment right to free speech was violated.
-WiscoDave
...yet the feds put Douglass Mackey in jail for a meme about voting for Hitlery that no one with more then two brain cells to rub together would have taken seriously.
ReplyDeleteNemo
Both cases are protected free speech. We need to work to right the wrong done in the Mackey case.
DeleteAgreed. It was a political witch hunt.
DeletePolitical speech is specifically protected under the 1st amendment. Literally its purpose, to protect opposing viewpoints.
The legal system has been weaponized by the people who have usurped our government and elections. We are living in the extra-judicial portion of the collapse of the former United States of America, FUSA.
In plainer english, we're fucked Boys, its time rule 308 is invoked. Fuck these traitors.
He'd best take his settlement and flee the county.
ReplyDeleteYep, he wil be “Buford T. Pussered”!
DeleteGenerally the TBI director is pretty good. In this case, he blew it. And y'know, any time a settlement is offered to "avoid time and trouble without admitting wrongdoing" it's time to add a couple more zeros before taking it.
ReplyDeleteOh HELL YES. Stick it up their ass as far as your elbow, then twist.
DeleteWhat the guy did is horrible, reprehensible, disgusting, ill mannnered and just uncouth! But its also perfectly legal, and any time The State tries to infringe on citizens rights they should personally be made to pay dearly. Sadly the citizens will foot the bill and he'll probably get a raise.
Garton showed very poor taste, but you can't jail someone for that: OTOH I wouldn't have settled for anything less than eight times that amount; the LEOs and the TBI are fully aware that they took away a constitutional right (in my mind, far worse than breaking a law); unfortunate that the taxpayers of Tennessee are the ones who will pay and there should be further punishment for these officers of the court than just money.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely!
DeleteQualified immunity needs to be struck down. I get the idea of protecting an individual while carrying out their job responsibilities, however abject negligence and deriliction of duty should not be protected!
If law enforcement knowingly breaks the law, they should be permanently barred from working in law enforcement. Period. Attorneys can be disbarred and banned for fraud and negligence, why are police special?
Probably poor taste on his part but definitely a 1st Ammendment right... I think he should have forced them to put in print that he was falsely arrested and they admit guilt in this violation of his rights to settle this. They got off too easy.
ReplyDeleteJD
@ Anonymous
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be opposed to either the stocks or a pillory set up in front of the Dickson County Chancery Court(house) for a week (Sunday to Sunday) for all of them with a large sign (in English) explaining their deliberate (constitutional) transgressions.
AMEN!!!!
DeleteThing is, the officers didn't pay the fee, the taxpayers (their employers) did.
ReplyDeleteNo pain for them really. Until officers are forced to pay personally, there is no incentive for them to stop such behavior. IF they ahd to pay, lost their pension and were fired, then it's be a start. Really the settlement amount should come out of their retirement funds rather than the taxpayers wallets.
^This
DeleteWell, the cops can always relieve their frustration at the verdict by killing a few pets.
ReplyDelete--Tennessee Budd
Lol, lock up your golden retrievers!!!
Delete