JURIES AWARD SANDY HOOK FAMILIES $49.3 MILLION IN TEXAS AND $965 MILLION IN CONNECTICUT ..... AND ALEX JONES IS FACING ANOTHER TRIAL IN TEXAS

Alex Jones must pay Sandy Hook families $965M in second defamation trial 

 

By Ben Kesslen

 

 

New York Post

October 12, 2022

 

 

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones enters a private car after talking to the media outside State of Connecticut Superior Court during the Sandy Hook hoax defamation trialin Waterbury Conn., Oct. 4, 2022 .

 

Alex Jones was ordered to pay $965 million to families of victims of the Sandy Hook massacre by a Connecticut jury on Wednesday — in the second defamation ruling against the conspiracy theorist for his claims that the 2012 mass shooting was a hoax.

The far-right Infowars host has repeatedly claimed the shooting was a media fabrication, denying that gunman Adam Lanza slaughtered 26 people at the elementary school and then himself on Dec. 14, 2012.

Law enforcement officers and parents at Sandy Hook Elementary School following the shooting.

 

Families of the victims said Jones profited off their suffering, amassing tens of millions of dollars by repeating the lies that drove clicks to his website Infowars and helped him hawk merchandise.

The parents wept while the damages were being read. 

Each of the plaintiffs was awarded a different amount for defamation and personal damages, but all were awarded tens of millions of dollars.

“Every single one of these families [was] drowning in grief, and Alex Jones put his foot right on top of them,” attorney Chris Mattei told the jury during the trial.

Meanwhile, Jones’ lawyer Norman Pattis insisted the trial was “not a case about politics.”

The families said Jones harassed them and sicced his followers on them, leading to death threats. Multiple parents of murdered children testified during the trial, recounting the pain and torture Jones’ inflicted on them while they were already grieving. 

Jones acknowledged the shooting while testifying, but derided the judge and said the case was a Democrat-led conspiracy to end his career.

“I’ve already said ‘I’m sorry’ hundreds of times and I’m done saying I’m sorry,” he told the jury.

Jones was not present as the verdict was read, and mocked the verdict on Infowars while it was being read. 

“Hey, folks, don’t go buying big homes,” he said, insisting he wouldn’t be paying the nearly $1 billion sum.

 

                                              Plaintiff Francine Wheeler wipes away tears on Wednesday

                                               William Sherlach, left, hugs attorney Josh Koskoff while Nicole Hockley hugs attorney Chris Mattei following the jury verdict on Wednesday.

 

In August, an Austin, Texas, jury ordered him to pay $49.3 million to Sandy Hook parents in a defamation trial with different plaintiffs. 

He is facing a third defamation trial in Texas that will begin at the end of the year.