San Diego Minutemen Leader Ordered to Pay $135,000 for Defaming Woman
Jeff Schwilk 鈥� the hot-tempered leader of the , a nativist extremist organization with a reputation for violent confrontations and crude insults 鈥� to pay $135,000 to a Korean-American civil rights activist who filed a defamation lawsuit against Schwilk and SDMM founding member and former spokesman Ray Carney in 2007.
Joanne Yoon sued Carney and Schwilk for $1 million after the men circulated photos of her in late 2006 along with comments referring to her as 鈥渢he Korean anorexic ACLU s---.鈥� Yoon, who was then 24, helped monitor SDMM rallies for the American Civil Liberties Union. The images of her were posted to a Yahoo group titled 鈥淜orean Kommie Kunt.鈥� Ever the sensitive soul, Schwilk changed the name of the group to 鈥淛oanne Yoon ACLU Goon鈥� after female SDMM activists objected. But that didn鈥檛 stop Carney from sending a mass E-mail to SDMM members suggesting that Yoon was interested in protecting the civil rights of Mexican immigrants because of her fondness for 鈥淏rown Schlong.鈥�
Schwilk was ordered to pay compensatory damages yesterday after a Superior Court jury decided against him. Punitive damages will be decided May 26. The court also entered a default judgment against Carney, who did not file a response to Yoon鈥檚 lawsuit.
Schwilk鈥檚 attorney called the decision 鈥渁n injustice鈥� and vowed to file an appeal.
