Ventura passage to be cut from book

By STEVE KARNOWSKI
Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Publisher HarperCollins says it will remove a passage from best-seller "American Sniper" that sparked former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura's defamation lawsuit against book author Chris Kyle.

A federal jury in St. Paul awarded Ventura $1.8 million in damages on Tuesday, finding that a section of the book defamed Ventura.

Kyle, a former Navy SEAL regarded as the deadliest sniper in U.S. military history, wrote that he decked Ventura at a California bar in 2006 after Ventura made offensive comments about SEALs. Ventura testified the confrontation never happened.

HarperCollins spokeswoman Erin Crum told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the passage will be removed.

Kyle was slain at a Texas gun range last year.

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