San Diego Minutemen founder fined $135,000 for name calling

A North County jury on Thursday said the North County-based leader of the San Diego Minutemen should pay $135,000 in compensatory damages to a woman who sued him for defamation for his alleged role in posting obscene references to her online and in e-mails.

The same jurors will be back in court Tuesday to decide if anti-illegal immigration activist Jeff Schwilk should also be ordered to pay punitive damages to the woman, Joanne Yoon, who in 2006, worked as a camerawoman with organizations that monitored rallies at day-labor sites.

The jury found that Yoon was defamed in e-mails and on a Web site where she was referred to in vulgar terms. They also found that Schwilk had aided and abetted a second anti-immigration activist, Ray Carney, in the publishing of those statements.

Attorney Daniel Gilleon, who is representing Yoon, said the court entered a default against Carney, who did not file a response to Yoon’s complaint.

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