Father gets awarded 11 million

timesjoke · Nov 1, 2007

BALTIMORE ? The father of a fallen Marine was awarded nearly $11 million Wednesday in damages by a jury that found leaders of a fundamentalist church had invaded the family's privacy and inflicted emotional distress when they picketed the Marine's funeral.

The jury first awarded $2.9 million in compensatory damages. It returned later in the afternoon with its decision to award $6 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy and $2 million for causing emotional distress to the Marine's father, Albert Snyder of York, Pa.

Snyder sued the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church for unspecified monetary damages after members staged a demonstration at the March 2006 funeral of his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.

The defense said it planned to appeal and one of the church's leaders, Shirley Phelps-Roper, said the members would continue their pickets of military funerals.

Church members believe that U.S. deaths in the war in Iraq are punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.

Before the jury began deliberating the size of punitive damages, U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett noted the size of the compensatory award "far exceeds the net worth of the defendants," according to financial statements filed with the court.

Snyder sobbed when he heard the first verdict, while members of the church greeted the news with tightlipped smiles.

Church members routinely picket funerals of military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, carrying signs such as "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "God hates fags."

A number of states have passed laws regarding funeral protests, and Congress has passed a law prohibiting such protests at federal cemeteries, but the Maryland lawsuit is believed to be the first filed by the family of a fallen serviceman.

Snyder's suit named the church, its founder, the Rev. Fred Phelps, and his two daughters, Shirley Phelps-Roper and Rebecca Phelps-Davis, 46. Snyder claimed the protests intruded upon what should have been a private ceremony and sullied his memory of the event.

Attorneys for the church said in closing arguments Tuesday that the burial was a public event and that even abhorrent points of view are protected by the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech and religion.

In his closing arguments during the punitive damages phase, plaintiff attorney Craig Trebil**** described church members as bullies who "seek out those among us who are at the weakest point in our lives."

"That's why they've gotten away with it until this point," the attorney said, adding that grieving families were too weak to fight back "until this man."

Defense lawyer Jonathan Katz reminded jurors that punitive damages are designed to deter future conduct, but not bankrupt or financially destroy.

It was unclear if the plaintiffs will be able to collect the damages awarded.

The defense attorney said the assets of the church and the three defendants are less than a million dollars and the compensatory award is about three times the defendants' net worth, mainly in homes, cars and retirement accounts.

In his rebuttal, Trebil**** said it was up to jurors to decide the truthfulness of the financial documents, noting the documents show Rebecca Phelps-Davis has $306 in the bank.

Trebil**** noted Phelps-Davis is a practicing attorney and pointed to testimony by the defendants showing how much they traveled to spread their message.

"Rebecca Phelps has $306? She must be using Priceline.com. It doesn't make any sense."

The attorney urged jurors to determine an amount "that says don't do this in Maryland again. Do not bring your circus of hate to Maryland again."

The church has about 75 members.

Earlier, church members staged a demonstration outside the federal courthouse, which is located on a busy thoroughfare a few blocks west of Baltimore's Inner Harbor, while passing motorists honked and shouted insults.

Church founder Fred Phelps held a sign reading "God is your enemy," while his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper stood on an American flag while carrying a sign that read "God hates fag enablers." Members of the group sang "God Hates America,"' to the tune of "God Bless America."
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I find what these people did to attack this father after he already suffered the loss of his son was horrible and I hope they are ruined the way they ruin so many other people when they attack them like this.

wez · Nov 2, 2007

I was watching the news tonight and it appears the guy is loving the publicity and is planning to continue.. What a lunitic.. God is punishing the USA for it's tolerance of homosexuals and is demonstrating and rejoicing over soldiers dying in Iraq and blames the war on this? I saw young teenage girls holding signs. Un fricken believable. How anyone could attend this church is beyond me..

eddo · Nov 3, 2007

wez said:

How anyone could attend this church is beyond me..
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The church only has a handful of followers, and the majority of them are related to the churches founder, Fred Phelps. This church has nothing to do with any other Baptist church in America- other than they spell "Baptist" the same way. and yes, they do thrive on the publicity...

and unlike some other world religions, you will find many a Christian that will speak out against the fanatical idiots that claim to follow the same faith- like Phelps and his group.

snafu · Nov 5, 2007

wez said:

.... How anyone could attend this church is beyond me..
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Jim Jones had some 900 members in his cult. Yes cult not church. Big difference.

ImWithStupid · Nov 5, 2007

These people are from Kansas (just like MM, hmm) and I live in Nebraska, so as you can guess they have been here doing this crap. Here is what happened during one of those protests here...

OMAHA, Neb. -- A woman was arrested in Bellevue on Tuesday during the funeral for a fallen soldier.

Shirley Phelps-Roper was arrested on suspicion of contributing to the delinquency of a minor for allowing her 8-year-old son to stomp on an American flag.

Phelps-Roper is a member of a Topeka, Kan., church that conducts anti-homosexual picketing at funeral services for U.S. soldiers.

Hundreds of people packed Bellevue streets Tuesday morning to pay tribute to a firefighter and soldier.

Spc. Bill Bailey was serving in the National Guard in Iraq when he was killed by a roadside bomb.

..."The arrestee, Ms. Phelps-Roper, put one around her waist. The second one was given to a 10-year-old, who put it on the ground and started kicking it in the area they were protesting," Gray said.

Nebraska law states that it is a Class 3 misdemeanor when a person "intentionally casts contempt or ridicule upon a flag by mutilating, defacing, defiling, burning or trampling upon such flag." The law was passed in 1977.

"It appears the adults weren't stepping on the flag because they knew it was a violation of the law. But they allowed the children to go ahead and do that," Gray said.

Phelps-Roper said she believes she has the right to use the flag as a symbol, and said Nebraska's law is outdated.

"We're going to challenge that statute," she said. "That statue should have been repealed."

Gray said the arrest wasn't personal and has nothing to do with his beliefs. He said he's simply doing his job.

"It's state law, so we were enforcing the laws of Nebraska," the officer said.

Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov said the words from the group are fighting words and that takes it away from protected speech.
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http://www.ketv.com/newsarchive/13447168/detail.html

The County Attorney filed charges, but Phelps-Roper has a lawyer from the ACLU working for her now.

The law will probably be tested for Constitutionality.

http://www.ketv.com/news/13569930/detail.html

http://www.ketv.com/news/14512275/detail.html

http://www.ketv.com/news/14509370/detail.html

snafu · Nov 5, 2007

If God hates ugly she's in big trouble!

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