Vanessa Bryant, the widow of Kobe Bryant, leaves a federal courthouse in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2022 A federal jury found on Wednesday that Los Angeles County must pay Kobe Bryant’s widow $16 million over photos shared by county officials of the NBA star’s body at the scene of the 2020 helicopter crash that killed him . The nine jurors who returned a unanimous verdict agreed with Vanessa Bryant and her attorneys that deputies and firefighters taking and sharing photos of the remains of Kobe Bryant and their 13-year-old daughter Gianna invaded her privacy and caused her emotional distress. The jury deliberated for 4 1/2 hours before reaching the verdict. Vanessa Bryant wept quietly as it was read. A county attorney declined to comment on the verdict outside the courtroom. The photos were shared mostly between Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials and fire departments, including some who were playing video games and attending an awards banquet. They were also seen by some of their husbands and in one case by a bartender at a bar where an MP was drinking. Vanessa Bryant tearfully testified during the 11-day trial that news of the photos compounded her grief a month after losing her husband and daughter and that she still has panic attacks at the thought that he might still be out there. “I live in fear every day of being on social media and this coming up,” she testified. “I live in fear that my daughters are on social media and this shows up.” Co-defendant Chris Chester, whose wife and daughter were also among the nine people killed in the crash, was awarded $15 million. Vanessa Bryant’s attorneys did not give jurors a dollar amount they believed their client was worth, but Chester’s attorney gave them proposed instructions that would mean tens of millions for each plaintiff. Vanessa Bryant’s lawyer, Louis Lee, told jurors the close-up photos had no official or investigative purpose and were just “visual gossip” shared out of abject curiosity. County Attorney J. Mira Hashmall argued during the trial that the photos were a necessary tool in assessing the situation. He acknowledged that they should not have been shared with everyone who saw them. But he stressed that the photos had never been shown publicly, or even seen by the plaintiffs. He said that meant Sheriff Alex Villanueva and other officials had taken decisive and effective action when they ordered those with the photos to delete them. Kobe Bryant, the former Lakers star, five-time NBA champion and member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, was traveling with Gianna and seven others to a youth basketball game when the helicopter they were traveling in crashed into the hills of Calabasas west of Los Angeles . January 26, 2020. Federal safety officials blamed pilot error for the crash. The jury returned its verdict on Kobe Bryant Day, which is celebrated on Aug. 24 because it uses both of his jersey numbers — 8 and 24 — and is the day after his birthday. Tuesday would have been Kobe’s 44th birthday.
