A federal jury has just awarded $2.9 million to
Albert Snyder, who sued the Westboro Baptist Church for picketing the funeral of his son, Lance Cpl.
Matthew Snyder, who died in Iraq last year.
According to a Reuters report, the jury in the case determined that the leaders of the Kansas based fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church invaded the family's privacy when they picketed the funeral last year.
U.S. District Judge
Richard D. Bennett, who had sealed the church's financial documents, said from the bench that the compensatory damage award would already eclipse Westboro's assets.
The case is believed to be the first such suit brought against the church, headed by Rev.
Fred Phelps, which has picketed hundreds of military and other funerals around the country in the past two years. The church is made up largely of Phelps' relatives.
Their actions—which include people carrying signs that read, “Thank God for dead soldiers” and “God hates fags”—have prompted at least 22 states to enact or propose laws to limit the rights of protesters at funerals. Congress has passed a law prohibiting such protests at federal cemeteries.
"They turned this funeral into a media circus, and they wanted to hurt my family," Snyder testified, according to the Associated Press. "They wanted their message heard, and they didn't care who they stepped over. My son should have been buried with dignity, not with a bunch of clowns outside."
The jury in the case awarded an additional $8 million in punitive damages against the church for invasion of privacy and causing emotional distress, according to
USA Today.
