Ventura, estate of ‘Sniper’ author back in court for appeal

Published 10:03 am Tuesday, October 20, 2015

ST. PAUL — Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura is headed back to court seeking to hang on to a $1.8 million legal judgment against the late “American Sniper” author Chris Kyle.

Ventura prevailed last year in a defamation case against Kyle’s estate. He accused Kyle of making up a story in the book about punching Ventura at a bar in 2006 after Ventura supposedly made offensive remarks about Navy SEALs.

Oral arguments are set for Tuesday in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Paul.

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First Amendment attorneys argue in a friend-of-the-court brief that the trial judge gave the jury bad instructions on determining whether Kyle was guilty of so-called “actual malice” in his statements.

Ventura’s lawyers counter that the instructions were accurate and that the evidence established Kyle knowingly lied.