NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – A jury of seven women and five men awarded Erin Andrews $55 million after two weeks of trial in the high-profile Peeping Tom case involving a Nashville Marriott hotel.
Both her stalker, Michael Barrett, and the hotel’s management group and owner, The Windsor Group, were found liable Monday. The $55 million will be split between the two with Barrett 51 percent liable and the Windsor Group 49 percent.
The man responsible for taking the video, Michael Barrett, was later found guilty and sentenced to serve 2 1/2 years in prison after admitting to stalking Andrews in three cities.
During her trial, Barrett said in a recorded deposition that he altered the peepholes on hotel room doors in Nashville and Columbus, Ohio, and recorded nude videos of Andrews before posting them on the Internet.
The videos have been viewed by over 16 million people, an estimate an IT expert said is conservative.
On the second day of the trial, Andrews’ father Steve, an investigative reporter in Tampa, Florida, took the stand. He testified about how the video changed his daughter’s life after it was posted online.
Andrews’ took the stand as well during the two-week trial, becoming emotional when she told the courtroom about how people initially thought the video was a publicity stunt and she had gotten naked for more fans and attention.
On her second day of testimony, Andrews went into great detail on how she now “booby traps” her hotel rooms so she can tell if anyone has been inside it while she’s not there, and said she thoroughly searches any room she stays in to see if there are any hidden cameras.
Dr. Kimberly Brown evaluated Andrews for the defense and said the 37-year-old had a lot of distress caused by the video.
On Wednesday, Neal Peskind, a representative of the local owners of the Nashville Marriott who testified on Monday, addressed allegations that he showed the secretly-recorded video at the center of the case while he was out for dinner Tuesday night.
He denied showing the video but did admit in a statement from his lawyers that the video was shown on a mobile device by someone else at the table.
