Jury awards Vanessa Bryant $16 million over crash photos taken of Kobe Bryant, daughter Gianna

LOS ANGELES — A federal jury found Wednesday that Los Angeles County must pay Kobe Bryant's widow, Vanessa, $16 million for emotional distress caused by deputies and firefighters sharing photos of the bodies of the NBA star and his daughter taken at the site of the 2020 helicopter crash that killed them.

The nine jurors who returned the unanimous verdict agreed with Vanessa Bryant and her attorneys that the photos of the remains of Kobe Bryant and their 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, invaded her privacy and brought her emotional distress.

The jury deliberated for 4 1/2 hours before reaching the verdict. Vanessa Bryant cried quietly as it was read.

An attorney for the county declined comment on the verdict outside the courtroom.

The pictures were shared mostly among employees of the L.A. County sheriff's and fire departments, including by some who were playing video games and attending an awards banquet. They also were seen by some of their spouses and in one case by a bartender at a bar where a deputy was drinking.

Vanessa Bryant tearfully testified during the 11-day trial that news of the photos compounded her still-raw grief a month after losing her husband and daughter, and that she still has panic attacks at the thought that they might still be out there.

«I live in fear every day of being on social media and these popping up,» she testified. «I live in fear of my daughters being on social media and these popping up.»

Her co-plaintiff, 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 thought their client deserved, but Chester's attorney gave them suggested guidelines that would have