Kent Studebaker, Lake Oswego mayor, served as an attorney and military judge for years in the United State Marine Corps. He tried a lot of cases, he said, and holds a lot of trust in the judicial system.
But that wavered Tuesday when a Minnesota jury awarded $1.8 million to Jesse Ventura for a passage in the best-selling book his son-in-law, Chris Kyle, wrote.
"Personally, I can't believe it. It's a travesty, if you want to know the truth," Studebaker said Tuesday after talking with his daughter. "It shakes my confidence in the jury system."
Studebaker's daughter, Taya Kyle, is in charge of her husband's estate after he was slain at a gun range last year. Taya Kyle grew up in Gladstone, and now lives in the Dallas, Texas, area with the couple's two young children. Taya Kyle attended the trial but did not appear in public or make a statement after the verdict.
Lake Oswego Mayor Kent Studebaker
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Studebaker said he is shocked by the verdict, and is consulting with her attorneys, who said they are considering an appeal.
Public figures, such as former professional wrestler and Minnesota Gov. Ventura, face a high bar in defamation cases. They must prove malice on the part of the author.
Ventura claimed that Chris Kyle ruined his reputation and dried up his work options by naming Ventura as the "Scruff face" celebrity Kyle wrote about in "American Sniper." In the book, Kyle said he clocked the celebrity for badmouthing Navy SEALS.
Kyle later named Ventura as the celebrity.
Studebaker attended two weeks of the defamation trial and said the 11 witnesses who backed Kyle's story were credible.
"I have a lot of bias, but the witnesses for the plaintiff were certainly no more believable," Studebaker said. "In fact, very much less so."
-- Molly Harbarger