Jury hits church for $11M in suit Father prevails over hate protesters

BALTIMORE – A grieving father won a nearly $11 million verdict Wednesday against a fundamentalist Kansas church that pickets military funerals out of a belief that the war in Iraq is a punishment for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality.

Albert Snyder of York, Pa., sued the Westboro Baptist Church for unspecified damages after members demonstrated at the March 2006 funeral of his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.

The jury first awarded $2.9 million in compensatory damages. It returned in the afternoon with its decision to award $6 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy and $2 million for causing emotional distress.

Snyder’s attorney, Craig Trebilcock, had 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.”

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.”

Two protesters from the Westboro church were in Portland, Maine, in March for the funeral of a Marine, but they were barred by police from coming within two blocks of the funeral.

The Maine Legislature passed legislation earlier this year that makes it a crime to accost, insult, taunt or challenge any person attending a funeral in the state.

The Maryland lawsuit was believed to be the first filed by the family of a fallen serviceman.