“Scruff face” trial begins tomorrow
The law suit that Jimmy Janos, aka Jesse Ventura, aka “Scruff Face” has brought against deceased SEAL, Chris Kyle, goes to the courtroom tomorrow according to Fox News. Of course, since the suit can’t be against a dead man, Janos is suing the widow of Kyle instead;
“Ventura is going to have to prove falsity … but the harder part is proving actual malice,” said Raleigh Levine, a law professor at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul. “It has to do with what you know about the truth — that you actually knew that what you were saying was false or that you recklessly disregarded the truth.”
Besides sorting out what happened in the bar, jurors will have to assess whether Ventura’s reputation was damaged and whether Kyle used Ventura’s name to make a profit.
[…]
Big money may be at stake. Court documents show Kyle’s book had earned royalties of more than $3 million as of June 30, 2013, and the judge already has ruled that proceeds from an upcoming movie could be subject to damages, too.
Ventura has said the case isn’t about money. “It’s about clearing my name. It’s a lie,” Ventura told The Associated Press in February.
Ventura and Taya Kyle are both expected to testify during the trial, which will likely last more than two weeks.
Apparently, both sides will present eye witnesses to prove their particular view of events. I can only imagine the types of witnesses that Janos’ side will present.
Video added to keep the discussion on track;
Category: Dumbass Bullshit
Don Shipley and your hair NSN 458745154 you are our only hope. This ass clown Janos needs to become the first official ex-Navy Seal revoke his trident. I bet he can still get a good job at All Points Logistics. Their are a few opening with his name on em.
Sapper, IIRC, while Janos went through BUD/S, he was never assigned to a SEAL team, and not eligible to wear a trident. Kinda like going through Sub School in Groton does not make you eligible to wear dolphins.
If I am incorrect, someone please set me straight.
According to the Wiki page the Special Warfare insignia is awarded for “Completing Basic Underwater Demolitions/SEAL training and SEAL Qualification Training”
So I guess the question would be did Janos complete SQT?
I don’t believe SQT was even around back then, which is why I have my doubt’s that Janos ever earned a Trident. Also, he was assigned to a UDT, but back then, he could have volunteered for a SEAL Team, but did not.
So there’s that, too.
Doubt’s? Seriously? I hate autocorrect.
Plus, once he’s on the stand, the defense can force his to say whether or not he really was a Navy Seal. He isn’t, of course, and his constantly referring to himself as a former Navy Seal ought to weigh on the jury’s minds as to what other fabrications he might be saying.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe at the time Ventura was in the Navy, UDTs and SEALs had a separate warfare insignia. SEALs had the trident as they do now, and UDT had a weird looking sort of “half trident”.
Back then there was no SQT…
when there was a BUDS graduation some guys went to UDT teams some to SEAL teams. And often, if platoons on the SEAL side needed bodies they could simply be shipped over from UDT platoons, and integrated into the SEAL platoons.
All the SEAL authenticators that I have talked to or read when they have wrote about Jesse have said yes… SEAL.
And actually Jesse did his active time in UDT and his reserve time in a reserve SEAL team.
BTW, I am NOT commenting on whether Jesse has gone Full Tard/ Douche here. Just sayin’ that you can’t take away that the guy passed BUDS, went to a UDT team and served on a reserve SEAL team.
I’m firmly in the Ventura is an embellishing asshole camp and I have been for years. But from my understanding, when the Navy consolidated the UDTs and the SEALs in the early 80s, it retroactively conferred SEAL status on guys like Jimmy Janos. He’s appeared at SEAL events wearing a trident shirt and nobody has ever really told him he can’t.
Chief Shipley said he was a SEAL so that’s good enough for me, whether or not he’s a former UDT/SEAL who has become a giant douche nozzle is no longer up for debate though.
Ventura left integrity behind for money a long, long time ago. It is disgusting to hear him talk about clearing his name, what’s to clear? He participated in a sport with fixed outcomes, and had a TV show that appealed to the lunatic tin foil brigades. There is nothing to clear from this lawsuit. Ventura went to great lengths to make his name a joke, he needed no assistance in making sure there was no honor or integrity associated with his name or his conduct.
I hope after he loses this lawsuit the judge orders him to pay the opposing court cases.
Karma is indeed a harsh mistress and as Ventura/Janos fades off into the sunset to join all the other has-beens a more fitting outcome is unimaginable.
Back when the SEALs were originally formed, there were UDTs/frogmen AND SEALs. Janos was UDT, but as Chief Shipley has said, the UDTs were pipe-swinging badasses and were later designated SEALs, so he can call himself a SEAL if he wants to.
However, none of that forgives his desperate need to hog the spotlight, like someone else we all know and despise. He just wants attention and this is how he gets it. If he brings in those flakes from his TV show, who he drags around with him, he’ll look ridiculous. That should be obvious.
But why not wait and see what the circus turns into?
I might be one of the few that thinks that the event described in the book did not happen.
However, if Ventura was really worried about his reputation, he should have dropped the lawsuit after Chris Kyle died. Their is no honor taking a dead man’s widow to court in order to clear your *ahem* “good name”.
Except that there were witnesses to the event. They have filed, as I understand, sworn statements to what they witnessed.
So, it’s more than just a he said, he said affair.
I am so looking forward to scruff face having this suit ruled against him, as he’ll also be responsible (IIRC) for Mrs Kyle’s attorney fees.
And Ventura has witnesses and pictures that say nothing happened.
And the judge has at least ruled that there is enough evidence to question the claims originally made by CPO Kyle.
And their are depositions and evidence that allude that the witnesses Kyle’s estate has were intoxicated (which will call into question their ability to actually remember the event)
It is a case of they said – they said.
I’m not carrying water for Janos or Ventura or the Governor or whatever the hell else this nutjob is calling himself today. I think he’s a super-douche of the highest order. I’m just saying that knocking out a celebrity in a popular southern California bar is not something that stays under the radar for six years.
But it didn’t stay under the radar for six years. The MilBlog community was talking about it shortly after it happened and the story has made the rounds since then.
Can you get me a link? I’d like to read that.
Might change my opinion…
Janos would pick a fight over barbecued ribs if he thought he could get attention out of it. That, in fact, is precisely what he’s looking for.
If it’s about clearing your name, Janos, I’m sure you’ll be more than happy to accept an apology from Mrs. Kyle and $1, right?
Chris and Taya Kyle had two children, one about eight and the other a year younger. Mrs. Kyle was named in the suit to replace her late husband because she is the executor of his estate. She asked the federal judge in the case to change the venue from Minnesota to Texas, for the sake of those children. He answered, “No.” Why? Because, according to him, she doesn’t even have to be at the trial. Can you imagine not appearing at a trial in which your late spouse’s good name is at stake and you and your children could lose millions if the plaintiff prevails? (I do not know what the extent of the insurance or how the policy may read.) No, neither can I. Meanwhile, Janos is repeatedly called governor and, in fact, filed his suit under the name “Governor Jesse Ventura, a/k/a James G. Janos.” No, that won’t be any influence on the Minnesota jury. To his limited credit, the judge asked that Janos not be referred to as “Governor.” Yeah, that will work, I’m sure, what with the case name and all. Janos insists it’s not about the money, as Sparky points out. So, yeah, then I’m sure that if a jury finds for him, a $1 in nominal damages should cover it. That’s about .35 to .40 cents for his attorneys to share. I’d call that fair—but for the verdict, that is. ByrdMan is right. There is no honor in Janos taking Chris Kyle’s widow to court in order to clear his so-called “good name.” If Janos wins, he loses. In fact, he has already lost, the Mexico-living bastard.
The royalties from the sale of Kyle’s book were designated for charitable causes. Mrs. Kyle wasn’t the recipient.
Yeah, that’s true, but I read that Janos is trying to get to the future movie money too.
And thus torpedoing his last chance to appear in a feature film (via pertinent cameo).
The box office money doesn’t go to the author of a book, unless the screen options contract includes that.
As an example, J.K. Rowling sold the screen rights to ‘Harry Potter’, but set the price and retained all other rights including the ‘toys’ like Universal Studios’ magic village and its buildings, and the scaled-down version of Hogwarts.
I dont give a shit what Chris Kyle did or did not do to this man, “jesse venturu” can go to hell on general principal. I don’t care if its Not For The Money®; you just dont go inflicting your beef with a deceased man on his widow.
Janos is a turd the same size as John Giduck. That is all.
Scruff Face Janos’ suit incorrectly assumes he had a good name to begin with. He’s doing a great job of proving that he is in fact a piece of shit. I’d love to see how many real, verifiable SEALs show up to confirm that Janos is indeed a lying douchestain. Hopefully they will also stomp the shit out of him in the parking lot afterwards.
Spot on, good name my ass.
Steroid pumped freak in a sport with fixed outcomes. They had to change the name of the “sport” to “entertainment’ so as to have at least a little truth in the process. He pretended to be a tough guy in a sport where everybody is pretending because there is a script.
Then he had a tin foil hat conspiracy show. Ventura ruined his own name with his nonsense, that he convinced an entire state to elect him governor only confirms what H.L. Mencken said, “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”
“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” – H.L. Mencken.
A little context, VOV; he wasn’t elected by the entire state. He was elected by 1/3 of those that voted (it was a 3-way race and he ran as an independent). As a resident of said state, I can only say that he started out ok as Governor, but quickly regressed into his “me, me, me” attitude.
That’s only a little more reassuring…of course I live in a state where Liz Warren and Ed Markie represent the replacements for the likes of Teddy and the Gigolo….so I’ve no claim to living with an intellectually aware electorate.
Oh, don’t get me wrong, we still have a state full of dumbasses that would elect Al Franken to the US Senate and put Mark Dayton (who gave himself an F grade for his performance as US Senator) in the Governor’s Mansion.
Thanks for making me laugh, I won’t regale you with tales from the Bay State they are just far too depressing.
Folks in the eastern part of the state just adore Barney Frank and the 3 speakers who were indicted for criminal activity….our current speaker hasn’t been indicted, yet….
Old Trooper: the legit voters of MN almost certainly didn’t elect Franken. It’s a virtual certainty that he was elected by vote fraud in Minneapolis and St Paul. Almost enough ineligible voters (mostly ex-felons, which tend – when their civil rights are restored – to vote for one party over 80% of the time – were documented to have voted in Minneapolis alone to have changed the result.
Coleman should never have dropped his court challenge to that stolen election.
The Other Whitey…I agree. No one has done more to discredit Jesse Venura’s name than Jesse Ventura. I think, in my opinion, taking Chris Kyle’s widow to court is a money play and a rather low class one at that.
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. Even if the incident in question didn’t happen, I don’t think it’s possible to defame the POS Janos. I can tell you that hearing the story did not make me think any less of him.
Let’s make this very clear so everyone knows without a doubt. The event happened exactly as told by Kyle. It happened at McP’s a well known Frog hangout in Coronado … McP’s is owned by a well respected retired Frogman.
Jesse is considered a SEAL … But it was his brother who was most respected in the community.
Ventura apparently was a blow hard extraordinnairee’ …
I wonder if said Blowhard has attended any Frog events at Ft. Pierce since this case started.
He is not generaly welcomed with wide arms at the Reunions (East and Left Coast) and as far as I can tell by the photos in the “Blast” … not at “November Muster” at UDT SEAL Museum either!
But what the hell do I know?
Carry on!
And IIRC, it was after the funeral for Michael Monsoor, whose acts earned him the Medal of Honor.
So yeah, if Janos had in fact said that they needed to lose a few more guys, I’m surprised there weren’t a lot more SEALs lining up to stomp a mudhole in his ass.
Doubly so since he did in fact have multiple opportunities to serve in Vietnam, yet sat it out in the PI instead.
That conspiracy theory spouting a-hole is dragging the name and reputation of a fallen hero through the mud…? Yeah, f*** Jesse. Since when do you get to act like a douche, get your ass beat by people who step into the breach AFTER being told to shut your damn mouth, then try to get paid for the go-around? That ain’t justice…the fact that Governor Ponytail was able to walk away from that memorial IS justice, IMHO. When you put yourself in the same category as these Warriors there are different rules, if you can’t/won’t accept that you don’t belong.
I assume Janos doesn’t need the money, making this just a little worse.
I just learned that Janos is an author. Yeah, he wrote a book. Must have made a ton of money, what with it being ranked by Amazon as:
A. 128,278
B. 338,657
C. 518,264
D. 1,388,370
The wrong answers are A, B, and C.
Chris Kyle wrote a book, too. Its sales rank is a tad higher than knucklehead’s—yeah, about 1,365,100 places higher. Nice. (Source: Amazon)
Janos, James, USN service? Check! Hooah! Has dual residency in Mexico and USA? Check! Do I believe he flapped his f’ng gums and got put in his place? Check!
Was Janos a less than primetime wrestler in California roaming up and down the west coast before he became a *star*? Check! How do I know? Because, he worked out and trained with one of my oldest cousins…Check! Got his ass beat on a lot back then, too. By a MARINE. *lmao*
PS-Cousin has no real dislike for Janos, he will politely tolerate him at various functions. He’s long since retired, bought and paid for the farm he wanted since his tour in Vietnam and raised a small herd of kids none of whom are “scripted entertainers”.
If he is a VN Vet he had better sue Wikipedia which states: “In January 2002, Ventura – although he had never outright claimed combat service in Vietnam, but heavily suggested it – disclosed that he had not seen combat.[citation needed] He was stationed at Subic Bay in the Philippines, and for this he received the Vietnam Service Medal….”
Damn good narrative here, written by a former SEAL officer. Looks like he did some research. Read it for yourself, it is well worth the time.
http://cursor.org/venturawatch/dangerous_game.htm
Gary quoted in the article, SN to Admiral, and finished his Naval service as the Dep of Naval Special Warfare was the guest speaker at my retirement. The best Naval officer I had the pleasure of working with. What he says is true. I have quoted his words here before. Gary also was the only reserve officer ever to command a SEAL Team and was acting Commander of NSW for a period. When he retired, a ceremony I attended at ONE Trident Way in Coronado, he was the senior Frog! So if he says it … It is true. Gary also awared the Navy Meritorious Service Medal to wife for her service to the community and the Navy.
Given hid track record I have no doubt that he said that to Kyle. But I’m with most people on here. After I heard about it I didn’t think much differently about him. I always thought he was a massive turd and still do. In my opinion I think he was lucky to escape that bar with his life. If he would’ve said that around my guys after we had a funeral for one of our guys he would’ve had a bottle broken over his head before the word “lose” left his mouth. He would’ve literally been stomped to death. Thank god that SEALs are calm professionals because that could have gotten ugly for him. I really bad for Mrs. Kyle and her kids. They are the real victims in all of this.
Jimmy Janos is a huge anti American turd factory. His expiration date was up years ago.
What a shameful old fart.
Fucking truther.
He must have a time delay on his fifteen minutes of fame….the guy is like Herpes once you think he’s gone he just keeps popping back up looking for relevancy.
Yeah and you don’t know where it came from.
In sports entertainment circles, there’s been a long told story that in the early 90’s, Ventura came in to a gym in Minneapolis where Rick Rude and the Road Warriors were working out and made a snide comment to Rude, who supposedly open hand slapped Ventura and knocked him to the ground. If that story is true, I have no doubt Ventura would have said something smart to somebody and gotten ko’d in return.
Ravishing Rick Rude was the man.
But I was always a Rugged Ronnie Garvin fan.
By the way Chief Kyle tried to keep it hush-hush by giving J.J. the pseudonym ‘Scruff Face’ Had the Chief been looking to cash in doesn’t one think that he would have used the Plaintiff’s name or made whom he punched out obvious?
I believe it wasn’t until the whispers about the real identity of Scruff Face were becoming a roar did Chief Kyle finally cave and admit the name.
It was his actions as a SEAL being the Devil of Ramadi that made Chris Kyle famous. It was his kill count and outrageous distance shots that made people want to know his story…not the five seconds or so it took to confront and punch some asshole that decided to say something insipid at a wake for a fallen comrade.
Janos will never quit being an attention whore. I remember seeing a clip of him on some TV show literally bawling about the way he was being criticized in the media when he was Governor of MN!
I know a really good pilot/lawyer that that can kill two bird/turds with one stone.
I had the displeasure of being at all All Services Accolades Ball with him as the “Guest of Honor/Speaker”. He was a drunken buffoon who sounded like an idiot and made several nide remarks about the other services. Needless to say he was pretty much left standing in a corner and no “fans” swarmed over to see him.
As far as his claims of being a SEAL. He had a BUDS class number but at the time BUDS grads had two career paths… SEAL or UDT.
Scrotum-Jaw was a UDT guy, and though they sometimes got augmented to the SEAL teams in country, there is no evidence he ever did.
He spun a lot of tales where he would let people come to the conclusion that he was a SEAL combat vet.
I peronally dont think his case has a chance in hell of standing.
Fuck him.
Sorry Guys, but being a Minnesotan Jesse is still our hero. Well maybe not for all but for quite a few. I met him at our college and he was a tell it like it is-no beating around a political bush kind of person. I realize that Mr Kyle is a hero to a lot of the military community, but to a lot of ‘us’ here feel the same way about Gov. Turnbuckle. Who was a pipeswingin don’t mess with MN kind of guy. I don’t know anything, much, about Kyle, but he seemed to really enjoy drawing attention to himself also, like Janos. SEALs are supposed to be the humble bunch correct? OK with that said,,, Love you guys All Ya’ll are doing a great job at TAH. Please don’t ban me from your blog.
ban ‘im.
Well, as a Minnesotan, myself, I can tell you that one of the only reasons he ran for Governor was that he was pissed that he had to pay such a high price for license plates for his Porsche. He thought that it was outrageous how much the state charged and the formula they used to come up with the dollar amount for vehicles. Same with when he became mayor of Brooklyn Park. He had an issue with the city, so he ran for mayor and actually won. Most everything he does is to benefit him. Granted, he gave everyone in the state a rebate on the tax surplus and lowered the price of license plates, but he, also, double dipped on housing, because he maintained 2 residences (a criticism that was lowered against him as mayor, also). He, as Governor, delved into the Rasslin’ entertainment side of things as a “special referee” for some televised match, to line his pockets.
He may have been a “hero” to some around here, but he blew that during his stint as Governor. He proved that he had a very thin skin when it came to answering hard questions and his constant whining as though he was always the victim. The final straw was his interview with a local reporter, when he asked her “have you ever hunted man”? As though she had no position to question him if she hadn’t, because he, supposedly had.
Ok, Duly noted. I had a positive personal experience, so I guess Im partial to that.
He is a hero only to Minnesota Morons who can’t remember how inept he was at governing and how he challenged members of the press to a fist fight merely for asking questions. If you are a fan of the moron, you a dumber than dirt and ignorant of history.
As I recall Ventura won the Governorship based on his ability to flap his cock-holster about not being a politician. He won because of a split ticket and was way in over his head when it came to managing the state.
He is a cock-mole. To compare Kyle pubishing a memoir about his actual service to the idiocy of Ventura and say because they were the same type of public figure is,,,, idiotic.
ban ‘im.