Jesse Ventura Wins $1.8M in Defamation Lawsuit
Jesse Ventura has won the defamation case against “American Sniper” author Chris Kyle.
The jury reached a verdict just after 1 p.m. Tuesday. The jury awarded Ventura $500,000 for defamation and $1.3 million for unjust enrichment. That brings the total to $1.8 million.
Jurors had been deliberating the Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura’s defamation lawsuit against “American Sniper” author Chris Kyle for nearly six days.
On Monday, jurors told federal Judge Richard Kyle they didn’t think they could reach a unanimous verdict. The judge urged them to keep trying.
Their discussions since last Tuesday topped 31 hours by the time they went home Monday afternoon.
Chris Kyle wrote in his best-seller that he decked Ventura in a California bar in 2006 after Ventura allegedly said Navy SEALs “deserve to lose a few.”
Ventura, a former SEAL and pro wrestler, testified Kyle fabricated the story. Kyle denied that in testimony videotaped before his death last year.
