Alex Jones must pay at least $4.1 million to parents of a Sandy Hook school massacre victim in defamation case, jury rules
An Austin jury on Thursday decided Infowars host Alex Jones must pay at least $4.1 million in damages to the family of a 6-year-old killed at Sandy Hook.
An Austin jury on Thursday decided Infowars host Alex Jones must pay at least $4.1 million to the family of a 6-year-old killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting for the suffering he and his website and broadcast caused them by spreading lies about the 2012 massacre.
Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, whose son Jesse died alongside 19 of his classmates and six educators at the school in Newtown, Connecticut, had sought $150 million for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
An attorney for Jones, who has repeatedly suggested that the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax, asked jurors to award Heslin and Lewis only $1.
The jury was only asked to decide whether Jones, who has already been found liable by a judge because he did not hand over critical evidence before the trial began, must also pay Jesse's parents for the emotional distress and reputational damage caused by his false claims. The jury will also decide whether to award punitive damages. The panel will hear testimony on that subject Friday.
Lawyer says money Alex Jones must pay to Sandy Hook parents will go to ‘school children across this country’Aug. 4, 202201:07Speaking on Infowars Thursday, Jones said he’d made a mistake and “followed disinformation — but not on purpose. I apologized to the families and the jury understood that.”
Rating: 5