Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura involved in a defamation lawsuit against Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, who was killed in February, will continue the lawsuit, using Kyle’s wife Taya Kyle as a substitute defendant.
Kyle, who served four duties in the second Iraq war, published a best-selling book about his time in Iraq titled American Sniper. In the book he wrote about an unspecified celebrity who made negative comments about the Iraq war, President George W. Bush, and the country as a whole. In later interviews, Kyle identified this man as Ventura.
Huffington Post reports that Ventura sued for defamation because the statements in the book were "a complete fabrication" and "a vicious, deliberate, and calculated assault on Ventura's character, honor, and reputation."
In February, Kyle and friend Chad Littlefield went to a Texas shooting range with another war veteran Eddie Ray Routh, who was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. As Kyle was trying to calm down Routh, he tragically shot and killed Kyle and Littlefield.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan ruled that the defamation case can continue despite Kyle’s death because Taya Kyle, his wife and executor of his estate, can be his substitute defendant.
According to Fox Ventura’s attorney argued that the case should continue because Kyle’s family will continuously profit from his book sales and a recent movie deal.