Kim Davis handed huge legal bill in gay marriage licence case

A former clerk who refused to give a marriage licence to same-sex couples has been ordered by a judge to pay legal fees to one couple's lawyers.

Kim Davis was found guilty by a jury last year of violating the Kentucky couple's constitutional rights.

On Tuesday she was ordered to pay $260,000 (£205,896) in fees plus $100,000 damages she already owed them.

Ms Davis was briefly jailed in 2015 for ignoring the US Supreme Court's ruling that legalised same-sex marriage.

She said she did not comply with the couple's request for a marriage license because she believes marriage is between a man and woman, citing her religious beliefs as an evangelical Christian.

Her lawyers argued in court that the legal expenses were excessive, but the judge saw it differently, saying Ms Davis must pay since they won the lawsuit.

"They sought to vindicate their fundamental right to marry and obtain marriage licences and they did so," Judge David Bunning said, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Judge Bunning is the same judge who ordered her jail time in 2015 over her marriage licence refusal, which was deemed contempt of court.

She was only released from jail after her staff issued the licences on her behalf.

Ms Davis had previously appealed to the US Supreme Court in 2020, but the US's top court declined to take the appeal.

Mr Ermhold is now running for county clerk, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.

Ms Davis lost her re-election bid for Rowan County's clerkship in 2018.