ALEX JONES ORDERED TO PAY NEARLY 1 BILLION TO 8 SANDY HOOK VICTIMS’ FAMILIES
The verdict is in for conspiracy-theory spreader Alex Jones who created a lie-narrative about the massacre of children and teachers at Sandy Hook being a hoax. He has been ordered to pay a whopping $965 million to eight Sandy Hook victims’ families and an FBI agent.
The conspiracy theorist Alex Jones must pay $965 million to the families of eight Sandy Hook shooting victims and an FBI agent who responded to the attack for the suffering he caused them by spreading lies on his platforms about the 2012 massacre, a Connecticut jury found on Wednesday.
Jones faced liability for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violations of the state Unfair Trade Practices Act, for creating a fake narrative that the mass shooting was a hoax. The families claimed Jones profited off the lies while they were harassed and abused by those who believed him.
For years, Jones peddled false stories on his radio and online show that one of the deadliest school shootings in the United States was “synthetic” and a “false flag,” and that the families of the victims were “crisis actors.”
Twenty children and six educators were killed after a gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown and opened fire on Dec. 14, 2012. The trial took place in Waterbury, about 20 miles from Newtown.
Jones had already been found liable by a judge after refusing to hand over critical evidence before the trial began, and this six-member jury was only asked to decide how much Jones should pay. This is the second trial related to his Sandy Hook conspiracy theories. In August, a Texas jury ordered Jones to pay nearly $50 million in damages to Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, whose son Jesse was killed in the massacre.
The verdict is the second big judgment against the Infowars host over his relentless promotion of the lie that the 2012 massacre never happened, and that the grieving families seen in news coverage were actors hired as part of a plot to take away people’s guns….
….The Connecticut trial featured tearful testimony from parents and siblings of the victims, who told about how they were threatened and harassed for years by people who believed the lies told on Jones’ show.
Strangers showed up at their homes to record them. People hurled abusive comments on social media. Erica Lafferty, the daughter of slain Sandy Hook principal Dawn Hochsprung, testified that people mailed rape threats to her house. Mark Barden told of how conspiracy theorists had urinated on the grave of his 7-year-old son, Daniel, and threatened to dig up the coffin.
Testifying during the trial, Jones acknowledged he had been wrong about Sandy Hook. The shooting was real, he said. But both in the courtroom and on his show, he was defiant.
He called the proceedings a “kangaroo court,” mocked the judge, called the plaintiffs’ lawyer an ambulance chaser and labeled the case an affront to free speech rights. He claimed it was a conspiracy by Democrats and the media to silence him and put him out of business.
“I’ve already said ‘I’m sorry’ hundreds of times and I’m done saying I’m sorry,” he said during his testimony.
Twenty children and six adults died in the shooting on Dec. 14, 2012. The defamation trial was held at a courthouse in Waterbury, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Newtown, where the attack took place.
The lawsuit accused Jones and Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, of using the mass killing to build his audience and make millions of dollars. Experts testified that Jones’ audience swelled when he made Sandy Hook a topic on the show, as did his revenue from product sales.
And so now the question is: will this verdict be a detterent to others who make big bucks on spinning conspiracy theories and creating false narratives?
The damage Alex Jones has done to the lives of these families is horrific—nearly a billion dollars doesn’t solve their pain-but also true that the end of infowars would be a public service
— Jen Psaki (@jrpsaki) October 12, 2022
Alex Jones is a about to be bankrupted to hell…exactly where he belongs.
— Tara Setmayer ? (@TaraSetmayer) October 12, 2022
If anyone deserves to live the rest of his life beholden to a horde of personally outraged judgment creditors, it’s Alex Jones.
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) October 12, 2022
To be clear, Alex Jones will NOT change his narrative ONE IOTA. Alex Jones WILL hide money and assets. Alex Jones will work to hide future earnings at every turn. Whomever is the world's greatest forensic investigator, needs to be engaged now.
PS – there's a third trial to come.— Duty To Warn ? (@duty2warn) October 12, 2022
Watching the Sandy Hook verdict live from his studio, Alex Jones makes an urgent plea to his audience for cash, and tells them that none of the money they send him will go the the families because he has filed for bankruptcy. pic.twitter.com/H658p5Sjiw
— Ron Filipkowski ?? (@RonFilipkowski) October 12, 2022
The jury is awarding HUGE damages (hundreds of millions of dollars) to the families of the Sandy Hook victims, which I imagine will basically bankrupt Alex Jones and his associates. And it is exactly what he deserves for the damage that he's done to these people.
— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) October 12, 2022
Hell would be losing your child in a mass shooting, something Alex Jones seems to care nothing about https://t.co/hwnPLdxO5X
— Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) October 12, 2022
A jury of Alex Jones’ peers has determined that publicly slandering the families of slain children is very, very expensive.
— Josh Campbell (@joshscampbell) October 12, 2022
Between the Texas and Connecticut verdicts, Alex Jones owes more than $1,000,000,000 in damages.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 12, 2022
Breaking: Absolutely astronomical figures in this InfoWars lawsuit out of Connecticut.
Alex Jones owes $229 million to just the first three plaintiffs, all family members of Sandy Hook victims.
There are nine more plaintiffs to go.
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) October 12, 2022
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