A federal judge has reduced by more than half the amount of damages that a fundamentalist Kansas church must pay to the father of a Marine who was killed in Iraq.
February 06 2008 12:00 AM EST
November 17 2015 5:28 AM EST
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A federal judge has reduced by more than half the amount of damages that a fundamentalist Kansas church must pay to the father of a Marine who was killed in Iraq.
A federal judge has reduced by more than half the amount of damages that a fundamentalist Kansas church must pay to the father of a Marine who was killed in Iraq.
The Westboro Baptist Church and three of its members, who picket military funerals out of a belief that the war in Iraq is a punishment for the nation's tolerance of gays, must pay Albert Snyder damages of $5 million for emotional distress and invasion of privacy, U.S. district judge Richard Bennett ruled Monday. The original jury award in October was $10.9 million.
Bennett's ruling cited the need to weigh any harm Snyder suffered against the financial resources of the church.
Snyder sued the Topeka, Kan., church after a 2006 demonstration at the Maryland funeral of his son, Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder. He claimed the demonstration intruded upon what should have been a private ceremony and sullied his memory of the event.
A jury agreed, and in October found the church and three of its leaders -- Fred Phelps and his two daughters, Shirley Phelps-Roper and Rebekah Phelps-Davis -- liable for invasion of privacy and intent to inflict emotional distress.
The church's appeal of the verdict is still pending. (AP)