Author's estate wants to overturn award

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — An attorney for the estate of slain “American Sniper” author Chris Kyle has asked a federal appeals court to overturn a $1.8 million defamation judgment for former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura.

Lee Levine told 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges they should overturn the verdict on First Amendment and other legal grounds. Levine says that at the least, the Kyle estate deserves a new trial because the judge improperly allowed the jury to hear that the publisher’s insurance would cover their verdict.

Ventura’s attorney told the judges the jury properly concluded that Kyle’s story was a complete falsehood. Ventura accused Kyle of making up a story in his book about punching Ventura at a bar after Ventura supposedly made offensive remarks about Navy SEALs.