Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ordered to pay $49.3M over Sandy Hook lies

Texas jury orders American conspiracy theorist to pay punitive damages for falsely claiming the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary shooting – in which 20 children and six educators were killed – was "staged" by gun control activists.

An economist testified that Jones and the Infowars company are worth up to $270 million, suggesting that Jones was still making money. (AP Archive)

A Texas jury has ordered conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay $45.2 million in punitive damages to the parents of a child who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, adding to the $4.1 million he has to pay for the suffering he put them through by claiming for years that the nation's deadliest school shooting was a hoax.

The total — $49.3 million — is less than the $150 million sought by Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose 6-year-old son Jesse Lewis was among the 20 children and six educators killed in the deadliest classroom shooting in US history. 

But the trial marks the first time Jones has been held financially liable for peddling lies about the 2012 attack in Newtown, Connecticut.

After the verdict, Lewis said that Jones has been held accountable. She said when she took the stand and looked Jones in the eye, she thought of her son who was credited with saving lives by yelling "run" when the killer paused in his rampage.

"He stood up to the bully Adam Lanza and saved nine of his classmates’ lives," Lewis said. "I hope that I did that incredible courage justice when I was able to confront Alex Jones, who is also a bully. I hope that inspires other people to do the same."

Earlier this week, Jones testified that any award over $2 million would "sink us." His company Free Speech Systems, which is Infowars' parent company, filed for bankruptcy protection during the first week of the trial.

READ MORE: Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ordered to pay $4.1M in Sandy Hook damages

Verdict: Alex Jones owes $45.2 million more to Sandy Hook in punitive damages. That's on top of $4.1 million in compensatory.

That's $49.3 million to two Sandy Hook families. Two more trials after this.

Unanimous verdict (what's required for punitive damages).

— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) August 5, 2022

Sending a strong message

Attorneys for the family had urged jurors to hand down a financial punishment that would force Infowars to shut down.

"You have the ability to stop this man from ever doing it again," Wesley Ball, an attorney for the parents, told the jury Friday. "Send the message to those who desire to do the same: Speech is free. Lies, you pay for."

An economist testified on Friday that Jones and the company are worth up to $270 million, suggesting that Jones was still making money.

Bernard Pettingill, who was hired by the plaintiffs to study Jones' net worth, said records show that Jones withdrew $62 million for himself in 2021 when default judgments were issued in lawsuits against him.

"That number represents, in my opinion, a value of a net worth," Pettingill said. "He’s got money put in a bank account somewhere."

The money that flows into Jones' companies eventually funnels its way to him, said Pettingill, who added that he has testified in approximately 1,500 cases during his career.

But Jones' lawyers said their client had already learned his lesson, and asked for lenience, saying the punitive amount should be less than $300,000.

"You've already sent a message. A message for the first time to a talk show host, to all talk show hosts, that their standard of care has to change" said Jones' lead attorney, Andino Reynal.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr-Okl64YQM[/embed]

Source: AP

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Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ordered to pay $4.1M in Sandy Hook damages

Jury in US state of Texas orders host of Infowars website to pay compensatory damages to parents of a child who was killed in 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Jones has claimed media and gun-control activists conspired to fabricate Sandy Hook massacre and that the shooting was staged using crisis actors. (Reuters)

A Texas jury has ordered conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay more than $4 million in compensatory damages to the parents of a six-year-old boy who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, marking the first time the Infowars host has been held financially liable for repeatedly claiming the deadliest school shooting in US history was a hoax.

The Austin jury, which announced the order on Thursday, must still decide how much the Infowars host must pay in punitive damages to Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose son Jesse Lewis was among the 20 children and six educators who were killed in the 2012 massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.

The parents had sought at least $150 million in compensation for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. 

Jones' attorney asked the jury to limit damages to $8 — one dollar for each of the compensation charges they are considering — and Jones himself said any award over $2 million "would sink us."

It likely won't be the last judgment against Jones over his claims that the attack was staged in the interests of increasing gun controls. A Connecticut judge has ruled against him in a similar lawsuit brought by other victims' families and an FBI agent who worked on the case. 

Parents suffer from 'complex' PTSD

Jones, who has portrayed the lawsuit as an attack on his First Amendment rights, conceded during the trial that the attack was "100 percent real" and that he was wrong to have lied about it. 

But Heslin and Lewis told jurors that an apology wouldn't suffice and called on them to make Jones pay for the years of suffering he has put them and other Sandy Hook families through.

The parents testified Tuesday about how they've endured a decade of trauma, inflicted first by the murder of their son and what followed: gunshots fired at the home, online and phone threats, and harassment on the street by strangers. 

They said the threats and harassment were all fuelled by Jones and his conspiracy theory spread to his followers via his website Infowars.

A forensic psychiatrist testified that the parents suffer from "complex post-traumatic stress disorder" inflicted by ongoing trauma, similar to what might be experienced by a soldier at war or a child abuse victim.

At one point in her testimony, Lewis looked directly at Jones, who was sitting barely 10 feet away.

"It seems so incredible to me that we have to do this — that we have to implore you, to punish you — to get you to stop lying," Lewis told Jones.

Jones was the only witness to testify in his defence. 

And he came under withering attack from the plaintiffs' attorneys under cross-examination, as they reviewed Jones’ own video claims about Sandy Hook over the years, and accused him of lying and trying to hide evidence, including text messages and emails about the attack. It also included internal emails sent by an Infowars employee that said "this Sandy Hook stuff is killing us."

Source: AP

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