Writer's attorney says Ventura claim deficient
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The attorney for a former Navy SEAL who wrote about Jesse Ventura in a memoir says a defamation claim by the former Minnesota governor is legally deficient.
Ventura filed the defamation lawsuit in January. He's upset over how author Chris Kyle portrayed a bar fight involving Ventura in Coronado, Calif., six years ago. Kyle claims he "laid him out" at the bar after Ventura talked about his opposition to the war in Iraq. Kyle served four combat tours in Iraq.
Kyle's attorney, John Borger, has filed a motion to dismiss two of three claims in Ventura's lawsuit and plans to challenge the third as well. Ventura's attorney, David Olsen, declined comment and said he would respond in court.
The Star Tribune says Borger's dismissal motion includes witness accounts of Ventura's comments, which one person said was anti-American.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.