Westboro Baptist loses privacy, emotional distress lawsuit

In Baltimore, a jury has awarded $2.9 million to the father of a dead Marine in the Westboro Baptist Church trial there.

Here's the Baltimore Sun's take. And that $2.9 million -- that's just compensatory damages and does not include punitive.

Not much reaction from Westboro yet, but you've got to believe they're going to appeal. In the meantime, I'm guessing the church won't be doing much funeral picketing. (Though I could be -- and often am -- wrong.)

Marc Randazza at Legal Satyricon has a post about why he reluctantly sided with Westboro in this case.

OH MY GOD -- Westboro has its own blog. It's basically set up so church leaders can respond to emails from the public. No response from the church yet, but I'll keep checking.

UPDATED: Punitive damages are $8 million.

Photo: Fred and the family outside the federal courthouse in Baltimore. AP Photo/Baltimore Sun, Jed Kirschbaum