A jury ordered Los Angeles County to pay $31 million ($A44.7m) in damages over graphic photos taken by sheriff’s deputies and firefighters of the helicopter crash that killed the basketball star.The county was ordered to pay $16 million ($A23.1m) to Vanessa, and $15 ($A$21.6m) to co-plaintiff Chris Chester, whose wife and daughter also died in the January 2020 crash on a hillside near Los Angeles.Jurors in downtown Los Angeles reached their verdict after roughly four-and-a-half hours of deliberations.As the jury was polled, Vanessa sobbed, looking at each of them one by one in approval.The jury of ten decided Bryant’s wideow had suffered and would continue to suffer severe emotional distress as a result of the death scene photos captured on the mobile phones of eight LA County Sheriff’s deputies.Vanessa’s fear that those photos would publicy surface was the basis of her lawsuit.The court heard the deputies shared the photos with friends, family and even strangers at a bar. Lawyers for the County argued the photos had never surfaced and had been deleted from the mobile phones, making her fears unfounded.The trial lasted two weeks and included graphic descriptions of the fatal accident, promoting Vanessa to leave the courtroom on several occasions. Kobe and Gigi Bryant, along with Sarah and Payton Chester, were killed along with five others in the January 26, 2020 crash.
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