Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura has won in a defamation suit he filed against the estate of Chris Kyle, America's deadliest sniper and author of the best-selling book, American Sniper, and stands to collect US$1.8M from Kyle's widow.

A verdict was returned by a jury in St. Paul, Minnesota, against Kyle's estate finding that Ventura had been defamed in the book's account of an encounter between the two former Navy seals at a California bar in 2006.

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Jurors were tasked to award damages for any harm done to Ventura's reputation, embarrassment, and humiliation brought by Kyle's statements that amounted to Kyle having used Ventura to collect unjust profit.

The US$1.8M is divided into US$1.3M for unjust enrichment and the remaining for defamation.

Chris Kyle, a former Navy SEAL, claimed in the book that he punched Ventura when the latter made disparaging comments about the U.S. military, including SEAL's behavior in Iraq.

Before Kyle was murdered last year at a Texas gun range, he had made a videotape where he defended his version of the story and said it was accurate.

Ventura said he lost a job as a TV personality because what he said was a lie about that bar encounter.

Jesse Ventura filed a suit against Taya Kyle, Chris Kyle's widow who inherited an estimated sum of US $6M from the sale of the book. Taya is executor of Kyle's estate and has the control over proceeds from movie rights and book royalties.

David Bradley Olsen, Ventura's lawyer, said that he believes that Taya has earned more than US$6M from the book royalties, and said an amount between US$5M to US$15M is a reasonable compensation for the irreparable harm done to his client.

John Broger, defense attorney, in his closing argument said that the 11 witnesses they had presented are all telling a compelling and consistent story to back up Kyle's stand.

Judge Richard Kyle, not related to the book author, reiterated that they were not charged as to whether Ventura was punched but for the reason that the latter was defamed with that account in the book. 

TagsChris Kyle, St. Paul Minnesota, Jesse Ventura, $1.8M, former Navy SEAL, American Sniper, defamation