Editor's note: The Associated Press reported that U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett on Feb. 4, 2008, reduced by more than half the amount of damages — from $10.9 million to $5 million — that Westboro Baptist Church and its leaders must pay to Albert Snyder. Bennett's ruling cited the need to weigh any harm Snyder suffered against the financial resources of the church.

BALTIMORE — The father of a fallen Marine was awarded nearly $11 million today in damages by a jury that found leaders of a fundamentalist church had invaded the family’s privacy and inflicted emotional distress when they picketed the Marine’s funeral.

The jury awarded $2.9 million in compensatory damages and $8 million in punitive damages, $6 million for invasion of privacy and $2 million for causing emotional distress to the Marine’s father, Albert Snyder of York, Pa.

Snyder sued the Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church for unspecified monetary damages after members staged a demonstration at the March 2006 funeral of his son, Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.

The defense said it planned to appeal and one of the church’s leaders, Shirley Phelps-Roper, said the members would continue their pickets of military funerals.

“Absolutely, don’t you understand this was an act in futility,” Phelps-Roper said.

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.”

Phelps-Roper said church members were creating a new sign following the award that reads “Thank God for $10.9 million,” adding “America is doomed, stay tuned.”

Church founder Fred Phelps said the group was confident the award would be overturned on appeal.

“Oh, it will take about five minutes to get that thing reversed,” Phelps said.

Snyder said money was not his motivating factor.

“The goal wasn’t about the money, it was to set a precedent so other people could do the same thing,” Snyder said.

However, Snyder said he would “follow them until the day I die,” to stop the group from protesting at other funerals.

Plaintiff’s attorney Craig Trebilcock said afterward that “this is judgment day for the Westboro Baptist Church.”

“They’re always talking about other people’s judgment day. Well, this is theirs,” the attorney said.

Plaintiff’s attorney Sean Summers said he would tirelessly seek payment of the award.

“We will chase them forever if it takes that long,” Summers said.

Church members believe that U.S. deaths in the war in Iraq are punishment for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality.

Before the jury began deliberating the size of punitive damages, U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett noted the size of the compensatory award “far exceeds the net worth of the defendants,” according to financial statements filed with the court.

Snyder sobbed when he heard the first verdict, while members of the church greeted the news with tightlipped smiles.

A number of states have passed laws regarding funeral protests, and Congress has passed a law prohibiting such protests at federal cemeteries, but the Maryland lawsuit is believed to be the first filed by the family of a fallen serviceman.

Snyder’s suit named as defendants the church, Phelps and his two daughters, Phelps-Roper and Rebekah Phelps-Davis. Snyder claimed the protests intruded upon what should have been a private ceremony and sullied his memory of the event.

Attorneys for the church said in closing arguments yesterday that the burial was a public event and that even abhorrent points of view are protected by the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech and religion.

In his closing arguments during the punitive damages phase, Trebilcock described church members as bullies who “seek out those among us who are at the weakest point in our lives.”

“That’s why they’ve gotten away with it until this point,” the attorney said, adding that grieving families were too weak to fight back “until this man.”

Defense lawyer Jonathan Katz reminded jurors that punitive damages are designed to deter future conduct, but not bankrupt or financially destroy.

It was unclear if the plaintiffs would be able to collect the damages awarded.

Katz said the church has about 75 members and is funded by tithing.

The defense attorney said the assets of the church and the three defendants was less than a million dollars and the compensatory award was about three times the defendants’ net worth, mainly in homes, cars and retirement accounts.

In his rebuttal, Trebilcock said it was up to jurors to decide the truthfulness of the financial documents, noting the documents show Phelps-Davis has $306 in the bank.

Trebilcock noted Phelps-Davis is a practicing attorney and pointed to testimony by the defendants showing how much they traveled to spread their message.

“Rebekah Phelps-Davis has $306? She must be using Priceline.com. It doesn’t make any sense.”

The attorney 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.”

Earlier, church members staged a demonstration outside the federal courthouse, which is located on a busy thoroughfare a few blocks west of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, while passing motorists honked and shouted insults.

Phelps held a sign reading “God is your enemy,” while Phelps-Roper stood on an American flag while carrying a sign that read “God hates fag enablers.” Members of the group also sang “God Hates America,” to the tune of “God Bless America.”