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.
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.
Jones was previously ordered to pay $49.3 million to Sandy Hook families at separate trial in August. Reuters
People reacting to the jury’s verdict at Jones’ defamation trial. ReutersIn 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.
With Post wires
