A Middle Georgia sheriff's deputy has paid his ex-wife $100,000 and publicly apologized for having her arrested and jailed because she complained about him on Facebook.

For Anne King, the money was nice, but the public apology meant more.

The settlement resolves a  federal free speech suit King brought against her ex-husband, Washington County Sheriff's Capt. Corey King, and his colleague Investigator Trey Burgamy after the criminal case against her was thrown out.  In keeping with the settlement's public terms, Anne King posted the deputies' signed apology on her Facebook page.

"Having me arrested and publicly humiliated, along with the embarrassment my children and family faced … you can't put a price tag on that," she wrote. "At the end of the day taking responsibility for their actions was far more valuable than any set amount of money I could get."

King's post also said that in an early version of the apology, which was rejected, "the blame was still put back on the judge and the court system."

The final public apology said, "It was not our intention for this to become as big of an issue as it became. We apologize for the pain caused and time wasted including Ms. King being charged and arrested with respect to what was really a personal dispute that should have ended without involvement of the courts."

Atlanta attorney Cynthia Counts, King's lead counsel and chair of the media and communications practice at Duane Morris, said the settlement "makes clear that people are free to express their thoughts on Facebook even if some people may be offended."

"Police officers are paid to patrol the streets, not Facebook," Counts added. "What we think is that common sense finally prevailed."

"People use Facebook to share what's going on in their lives, both the good and the bad," Counts said. Anne King "was sharing what was a bad day. It was actually a true statement that led to her being arrested because her ex-husband was offended … by her speech."

Attorney Virgil Adams of Adams Jordan & Herrington in Macon and Duane Morris associate Brian Biglin served as Counts' co-counsel in the case. Albany attorney Ken Hodges, now a judge on the Georgia Court of Appeals, also served as co-counsel before he was elected to the bench.

Timothy Buckley of Atlanta's Buckley Christopher, who represents Corey King and Burgamy, couldn't be reached for comment.

The 2015 Facebook post that provoked Corey King into orchestrating his ex-wife's arrest began: "Feeling overwhelmed."

Her post continued: "That moment when everyone in your house has the flu and you ask your kid's dad to get them (not me) more Motrin and Tylenol and he refuses."

Anne King's post, written after she returned from taking her son to the emergency room, prompted her ex-husband to reply: "Take that bullshit off Facebook."

Corey King complained to Burgamy that his ex was "harassing him" on Facebook, according to federal court papers. The two then sought and secured an arrest warrant charging Anne King with criminal defamation—a defunct Georgia charge that was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Georgia nearly 40 years ago.

The two deputies also secured a second arrest warrant for Anne King's friend, Susan Hines, who had responded to Anne King's post with an offer of help, adding, "ANY man who spitefully disregards his children's needs IS a piece of shit."

Both women were jailed, but a state court judge soon dismissed the charges. Hines didn't join Anne King in the federal lawsuit.

Counts said the $100,000 portion of the settlement is "an important number to send a message."

But, she continued, "The most important thing was the apology," which was just as difficult to secure as the money.

Counts said the text of the initial apology made no mention of Anne King's arrest,that she had been jailed on an unconstitutional charge or that Corey King and Burgamy had arranged the arrest. "We all agreed that it needed to mention her specifically and apologize for the arrest and charges," she added.

Counts also said, "The fact that it was a public settlement and a public apology was crucial for Ms. King."

"You want it to be public because you want it to have the value of deterring other police officers in the future from displaying the same abuse of power," Counts continued. "If settlements are confidential, it allows people to act in sometimes unchecked ways."