Alex Jones ordered to pay nearly $1 billion compensatory damages to Sandy Hook families

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Alex Jones on Wednesday was ordered by a Connecticut jury to pay nearly $1 billion to families of the Sandy Hook shooting victims.
• The far-right conspiracy theorist has been spreading a lie for years that the shooting massacre was a government-orchestrated hoax. 
• Last month, Jones was ordered to pay almost $50 million in damages to one Sandy Hook family.

A Connecticut jury ordered conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay nearly $1 billion to families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Jones was sued for spreading lies about the 2012 massacre. 

The shooting happened in Newtown, Connecticut, about 20 miles away from where victims’ families gave emotional testimony in Waterbury Superior Court during the trial. The massacre left six adults and 20 children dead.

The Infowars host repeatedly told millions of his listeners that the shooting was a hoax and the victims’ families were crisis actors paid to be part of a plot to impose gun control laws. 

The relatives of the victims testified that they experienced harassment and abuse from Jones’ listeners who believe his lies. 

Robbie Parker, one of the plaintiffs, was awarded $120 million. He said his family had to leave Connecticut for Washington state after years of harassment. His 6-year-old daughter was killed in the shooting.

“It would come in these waves,” Parker said in a trial last month. “It was almost like I knew when Alex Jones said something, because we would get a huge wave of stuff.”

Matthew Soto, the brother of slain teacher Vicki Soto, testified that someone approached him at his own high school to ask him whether his sister had really died. 

Despite admitting in court that the shooting actually happened, Jones remained combative. He called the ordeal a “kangaroo court” and the judge a “tyrant.” 

“Is this a struggle session?” Jones mockingly remarked last month. “Are we in China? I’ve already said I’m sorry hundreds of times, and I’m done saying I’m sorry.”

In August, a Texas jury ordered Jones to pay $49.3 million to Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose 6-year-old son was killed in the massacre. 

Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, immediately filed for bankruptcy before Jones’ trial started. 

There will be a third trial in Texas later this year that involves the parents of a slain child.

Source: Reuters