Alex Jones, the far-right conspiracy theorist who used his Infowars media company to
spread lies about the Sandy Hook school shooting, has already been found liable for
defaming the victims’ families. This week, a trial was held to determine how much
money he must pay them.
The parents of a victim have sought at least $150m in the Texas defamation trial
against the Infowars founder.
They said they endured harassment and emotional distress because of the right-wing
host’s misinformation.
Twenty children and six adults were shot dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School in
The jury in the city of Austin decided compensatory damages on Thursday, and must
still determine any punitive damages.
Jones – who was not in court when the outcome was announced – has repeatedly
argued that the shooting was a hoax organised by the government in order to strip
Americans of gun ownership rights, and that the parents of the dead children were
“crisis actors”
He has already lost a series of defamation cases brought by parents of the victims by
default after failing to produce documents and testimony.
But this is the first in which financial damages were agreed by a jury.
The case was brought by Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, the separated parents of six-
year-old Jesse Lewis, who died in the school shooting.
Ahead of Thursday’s decision, a lawyer for the plaintiffs revealed that Jones’ lawyer
had inadvertently sent him two years of texts from his client’s phone.
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The attorney said a congressional panel investigating last year’s US Capitol riot had
already requested access to the messages. The committee has said Jones helped
organise a rally that took place just before the riot.
Despite retracting his claims about Sandy Hook, Jones has continued to use his
platform to attack jurors and the judge in this case.
He also claimed he was bankrupt despite evidence that his companies were earning
about $800,000 dollars a day selling diet supplements, gun paraphernalia and
survivalist equipment.
During the emotionally charged two-week trial, Jones portrayed the case as an attack
on his free speech rights under the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
“Speech is free, but lies you have to pay for,” lawyers for the families countered in
their opening arguments.
Testifying on Wednesday, Jones acknowledged the Sandy Hook attack was “100% real”
and apologised for having “hurt these people’s feelings”.
But in her testimony, Mrs Lewis addressed Jones in court, saying: “Jesse was real… I’m
a real mom.”
She went on to say it is “incredible to me that we have to do this”.
“That we have to implore you – not just implore you, punish you – to get you to stop
lying,” she continued, adding: “It is surreal what is going on in here.”
Mr Heslin said that Jones’ lies “tarnished the honour and legacy” of his son, adding
that he had gone through nearly 10 years of “hell” since the attack.
According to lawyers for the parents, they were forced to hire private security for the
trial out of concern that followers of Jones could seek to harm them.
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