Alex Jones speaks to media at Sandy Hook defamation trial
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Another "Bannon like" windbag that don't know when to STFU... fear of bankruptcy makes you run your mouth.- $4.1 M+ COMPENSATORY, PUNITIVE $45.2 M
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Alex Jones speaks to media at Sandy Hook defamation trial
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Judge admonishes Alex Jones for speaking outside courtroom on 1st day of Sandy Hook defamation trial
Dylan Stableford
·Senior Writer
Tue, July 26, 2022 at 3:05 PM·3 min read
A Texas judge overseeing the defamation trial that will determine how much money Alex Jones must pay Sandy Hook Elementary School parents for falsely claiming the Dec. 14, 2012, mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., was fake admonished the Infowars founder Tuesday for speaking about the case within earshot of the jury.
"We're not going to have that again," Judge Maya Guerra Gamble told Jones and his attorneys.
During a break in opening arguments, Jones spoke to reporters inside Travis County Courthouse in Austin, where Infowars is based.
"Ladies and gentlemen, if you want to be bamboozled and lose your First Amendment ... go ahead," Jones said. "You're having your rights to a trial by jury to decide if you're guilty or innocent stolen from you. This is a kangaroo court. This is a political act. This is a witch hunt."
The judge reminded Jones that every participant in the trial is "ordered to be silent out of this courtroom, or if there is any member of the jury in sight."
The trial comes after judges in Texas and Connecticut issued default judgments against Jones, finding him liable for defamation for his portrayal of the Sandy Hook massacre as a hoax involving "crisis actors" employed by the government in order to enact stricter gun control. (In both states, judges issued default judgments against Jones without trials because he failed to respond to court orders and turn over documents.)
During jury selection Monday, an attorney for Jones said he “has medical issues” that could keep him from showing up during parts of the 10-day trial.
On Tuesday, Jones arrived at the courthouse wearing a piece of silver tape over his mouth with the message “Save the 1st” printed on it. He removed it before entering the courtroom.
Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, who was one of the 20 first graders and six educators who were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary, were already inside. The parents, who are seeking $150 million in damages, are expected to testify.
Judge admonishes Alex Jones for speaking outside courtroom on 1st day of Sandy Hook defamation trial (yahoo.com)
Dylan Stableford
·Senior Writer
Tue, July 26, 2022 at 3:05 PM·3 min read
A Texas judge overseeing the defamation trial that will determine how much money Alex Jones must pay Sandy Hook Elementary School parents for falsely claiming the Dec. 14, 2012, mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., was fake admonished the Infowars founder Tuesday for speaking about the case within earshot of the jury.
"We're not going to have that again," Judge Maya Guerra Gamble told Jones and his attorneys.
During a break in opening arguments, Jones spoke to reporters inside Travis County Courthouse in Austin, where Infowars is based.
"Ladies and gentlemen, if you want to be bamboozled and lose your First Amendment ... go ahead," Jones said. "You're having your rights to a trial by jury to decide if you're guilty or innocent stolen from you. This is a kangaroo court. This is a political act. This is a witch hunt."
The judge reminded Jones that every participant in the trial is "ordered to be silent out of this courtroom, or if there is any member of the jury in sight."
The trial comes after judges in Texas and Connecticut issued default judgments against Jones, finding him liable for defamation for his portrayal of the Sandy Hook massacre as a hoax involving "crisis actors" employed by the government in order to enact stricter gun control. (In both states, judges issued default judgments against Jones without trials because he failed to respond to court orders and turn over documents.)
During jury selection Monday, an attorney for Jones said he “has medical issues” that could keep him from showing up during parts of the 10-day trial.
On Tuesday, Jones arrived at the courthouse wearing a piece of silver tape over his mouth with the message “Save the 1st” printed on it. He removed it before entering the courtroom.
Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, who was one of the 20 first graders and six educators who were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary, were already inside. The parents, who are seeking $150 million in damages, are expected to testify.
Judge admonishes Alex Jones for speaking outside courtroom on 1st day of Sandy Hook defamation trial (yahoo.com)
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Sandy Hook parents to testify against Alex Jones, and culture of lies
July 25, 2022
www.nytimes.com
July 25, 2022
Parents of Sandy Hook Victim at Alex Jones Trial Seek $150 Million in Damages (Published 2022)
The figure represents the first time the family of a victim has put a dollar amount on the suffering Mr. Jones caused by spreading lies about the 2012 school shooting.
dont give a fuck what you say, alex jones
is fuckin hilarious, look at this fool run.. bwahhaahhahaaaaaaaa
is fuckin hilarious, look at this fool run.. bwahhaahhahaaaaaaaa
Alex Jones speaks to media at Sandy Hook defamation trial
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That white privilege does not allow him to just shut the fuck up.
Reality is grabbing this fuck by the throat now.... he knows it's about to get fucking real.... look at the back of he left ear turning beet red
Alex Jones Says Father of Sandy Hook Victim Acts Like He's 'on the Spectrum'
Alex Jones Says Father of Sandy Hook Victim Acts Like He's 'on the Spectrum'
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It's a wrap for this asshole........
He was tap dancing like Fred Astaire while the prosecutor was questioning him.....
Alex Jones’ Damning Texts ACCIDENTALLY Sent to Sandy Hook Lawyer
“You know what perjury is, right?” attorney Mark Bankston asked the Infowars host on the stand. “You lied.”
A day after far-right conspiracy-monger Alex Jones was scolded by a judge for chewing gum in the courtroom, opposing lawyers dropped a bombshell revelation they said proved the embattled InfoWars host has been lying on the stand.
Jones testified on Wednesday for the second time in attempting to fend off one of many defamation lawsuits brought by families affected by the Sandy Hook massacre. They are seeking at least $150 million from Jones and his bankrupt media company, Free Speech Systems. Numerous parents of children killed in the 2012 school shooting blame Jones for spreading falsehoods and disinformation about the tragedy that brought on ceaseless abuse, harassment, and death threats.
On Tuesday, Jones insisted, under oath, that he had fully complied with the court’s discovery process, and that there were no text messages on his phone in which he discussed Sandy Hook, as the other side had requested.
On Wednesday, attorney Mark Bankston informed a seemingly stunned Jones that he had evidence this was untrue.
“Did you know [that] 12 days ago your attorneys messed up and sent me an entire digital copy of your entire cell phone, with every text message you’ve sent for the past two years?” he asked. “And when informed, [they] did not take any steps to identify it as privileged, or protected in any way?”
“This is your Perry Mason moment,” an obviously shocked Jones responded.
Bankston continued, “In discovery, you were asked if you had Sandy Hook text messages on your phone, and you said, ‘No.’ Correct?” Bankston asked. “You said that under oath.”
Jones replied, “If I was mistaken, I was mistaken. You’ve got the text messages right there.”
“You know what perjury is, right?” Bankston shot back. “I just want to make sure before we go any further... You testified under oath that you personally searched your phone for the phrase ‘Sandy Hook,’ and [said] there were no messages...You lied.”
“No, I did not lie,” Jones answered.
Previously, Jones testified that he didn’t use email so he would not be providing any during discovery. However, Bankston stunned Jones again on Wednesday by displaying his own emails as evidence—which also came from Jones’ phone.
“You’d agree these are emails you sent to your lawyers, your staff, and others, concerning your business operations, Sandy Hook, [and] other topics… ?”
Jones responded, “This is ridiculous.”
Jones testified on Wednesday that InfoWars regularly brought in as much as $200,000 a day, and that it grossed as much as $800,000 a day at times. The exchange came after Bankston mentioned Jones’ claims that his income had virtually disappeared in recent years.
Jones also said that he “was planning to shut down [InfoWars]” when he got married several years ago, but that he “got stuck in his fight with the system, and everything else that’s going on.”
When Bankston asked Jones if he remembered saying on his show that the mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, was a “false flag engineered to start a civil war,” he answered, “I said I believed it could be.”
“The Las Vegas shooting, there at the concert,” Bankston continued. “False flag? Government operation, right?”
“Now, a lot of people have questions about Vegas,” said Jones.
“Would you agree with me that there is not a mass tragedy, mass bombing, mass shooting, that has occurred in America in the past 15 years, that you have not attached the words ‘false flag’ to?” asked Bankston.
“No,” Jones replied.
Bankston then played footage of Jones calling Sandy Hook a concocted scheme by the government.
“Sandy Hook [was] ‘synthetic,’ completely fake, with actors, in my view,” Jones said in the clip. “Manufactured. I couldn’t believe it at first. I knew they had actors, they are clearly, but I thought they killed some real kids. And it just shows how bold they are, that they clearly used actors, I mean, they even ended up using photos of kids killed in mass shootings… in a fake mass shooting in Turkey. Or, uh, Pakistan.”
On Tuesday, the jury heard heartbreaking testimony from Neil Heslin, whose 6-year-old son, Jesse, was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting.
“I can’t even describe the last nine and a half years, the living hell that I and others have had to endure because of the recklessness and negligence of Alex Jones,” Heslin said in court.
Jones did not show up for Heslin’s testimony, which the grieving father called “cowardly.”
“Today is very important to me and it’s been a long time coming... to face Alex Jones for what he said and did to me. To restore the honor and legacy of my son,” he told the Associated Press.
Jones has in the past denigrated Heslin as being “like somebody on the spectrum,” and said he and Jesse’s mom, Scarlett Lewis, were “caricatures of what you would imagine in some alternate universe of dwarf goblins.”
The lawsuit against him is a First Amendment issue, according to Jones, who has baselessly accused the trial of being rigged.
“All I did was speculate and ask questions,” he seethed to reporters outside the courthouse on Tuesday. “I have a right to do that.”
Alex Jones’ Damning Texts ACCIDENTALLY Sent to Sandy Hook Lawyer (thedailybeast.com)
Alex Jones’ Damning Texts ACCIDENTALLY Sent to Sandy Hook Lawyer (thedailybeast.com)
He was tap dancing like Fred Astaire while the prosecutor was questioning him.....
Alex Jones’ Damning Texts ACCIDENTALLY Sent to Sandy Hook Lawyer
“You know what perjury is, right?” attorney Mark Bankston asked the Infowars host on the stand. “You lied.”
A day after far-right conspiracy-monger Alex Jones was scolded by a judge for chewing gum in the courtroom, opposing lawyers dropped a bombshell revelation they said proved the embattled InfoWars host has been lying on the stand.
Jones testified on Wednesday for the second time in attempting to fend off one of many defamation lawsuits brought by families affected by the Sandy Hook massacre. They are seeking at least $150 million from Jones and his bankrupt media company, Free Speech Systems. Numerous parents of children killed in the 2012 school shooting blame Jones for spreading falsehoods and disinformation about the tragedy that brought on ceaseless abuse, harassment, and death threats.
On Tuesday, Jones insisted, under oath, that he had fully complied with the court’s discovery process, and that there were no text messages on his phone in which he discussed Sandy Hook, as the other side had requested.
On Wednesday, attorney Mark Bankston informed a seemingly stunned Jones that he had evidence this was untrue.
“Did you know [that] 12 days ago your attorneys messed up and sent me an entire digital copy of your entire cell phone, with every text message you’ve sent for the past two years?” he asked. “And when informed, [they] did not take any steps to identify it as privileged, or protected in any way?”
“This is your Perry Mason moment,” an obviously shocked Jones responded.
Bankston continued, “In discovery, you were asked if you had Sandy Hook text messages on your phone, and you said, ‘No.’ Correct?” Bankston asked. “You said that under oath.”
Jones replied, “If I was mistaken, I was mistaken. You’ve got the text messages right there.”
“You know what perjury is, right?” Bankston shot back. “I just want to make sure before we go any further... You testified under oath that you personally searched your phone for the phrase ‘Sandy Hook,’ and [said] there were no messages...You lied.”
“No, I did not lie,” Jones answered.
Previously, Jones testified that he didn’t use email so he would not be providing any during discovery. However, Bankston stunned Jones again on Wednesday by displaying his own emails as evidence—which also came from Jones’ phone.
“You’d agree these are emails you sent to your lawyers, your staff, and others, concerning your business operations, Sandy Hook, [and] other topics… ?”
Jones responded, “This is ridiculous.”
Jones testified on Wednesday that InfoWars regularly brought in as much as $200,000 a day, and that it grossed as much as $800,000 a day at times. The exchange came after Bankston mentioned Jones’ claims that his income had virtually disappeared in recent years.
Jones also said that he “was planning to shut down [InfoWars]” when he got married several years ago, but that he “got stuck in his fight with the system, and everything else that’s going on.”
When Bankston asked Jones if he remembered saying on his show that the mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, was a “false flag engineered to start a civil war,” he answered, “I said I believed it could be.”
“The Las Vegas shooting, there at the concert,” Bankston continued. “False flag? Government operation, right?”
“Now, a lot of people have questions about Vegas,” said Jones.
“Would you agree with me that there is not a mass tragedy, mass bombing, mass shooting, that has occurred in America in the past 15 years, that you have not attached the words ‘false flag’ to?” asked Bankston.
“No,” Jones replied.
Bankston then played footage of Jones calling Sandy Hook a concocted scheme by the government.
“Sandy Hook [was] ‘synthetic,’ completely fake, with actors, in my view,” Jones said in the clip. “Manufactured. I couldn’t believe it at first. I knew they had actors, they are clearly, but I thought they killed some real kids. And it just shows how bold they are, that they clearly used actors, I mean, they even ended up using photos of kids killed in mass shootings… in a fake mass shooting in Turkey. Or, uh, Pakistan.”
On Tuesday, the jury heard heartbreaking testimony from Neil Heslin, whose 6-year-old son, Jesse, was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting.
“I can’t even describe the last nine and a half years, the living hell that I and others have had to endure because of the recklessness and negligence of Alex Jones,” Heslin said in court.
Jones did not show up for Heslin’s testimony, which the grieving father called “cowardly.”
“Today is very important to me and it’s been a long time coming... to face Alex Jones for what he said and did to me. To restore the honor and legacy of my son,” he told the Associated Press.
Jones has in the past denigrated Heslin as being “like somebody on the spectrum,” and said he and Jesse’s mom, Scarlett Lewis, were “caricatures of what you would imagine in some alternate universe of dwarf goblins.”
The lawsuit against him is a First Amendment issue, according to Jones, who has baselessly accused the trial of being rigged.
“All I did was speculate and ask questions,” he seethed to reporters outside the courthouse on Tuesday. “I have a right to do that.”
Alex Jones’ Damning Texts ACCIDENTALLY Sent to Sandy Hook Lawyer (thedailybeast.com)
Alex Jones’ Damning Texts ACCIDENTALLY Sent to Sandy Hook Lawyer (thedailybeast.com)
Exclusive: Jan. 6 Committee Prepares to Subpoena Alex Jones’ Texts, Emails
Jones’ lawyers in a Sandy Hook defamation case fumbled three years worth of texts and emails. The committee would like to know more about any contacts with Donald Trump’s team regarding the Jan. 6 Capitol attack
Alex Jones, the founder of right-wing media group Infowars, addresses a crowd of pro-Trump protesters after they storm the grounds of the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC.
The January 6th House committee is preparing to request the trove of Alex Jones’s text messages and emails revealed Wednesday in a defamation lawsuit filed by victims of the Sandy Hook massacre, Rolling Stone has learned.
On Wednesday, Sandy Hook victims’ attorney Mark Bankston told Jones that his attorney had mistakenly sent Bankston three years worth of the conspiracy theorist’s emails and text messages copied from his phone.
Now — a source familiar with the matter and another person briefed on it tell Rolling Stone — the January 6th committee is preparing to request that data from the plaintiff attorneys in order to aid its investigation of the insurrection. These internal deliberations among the committee, which is probing former President Donald Trump’s role in causing the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot, began within minutes of the lawyer’s revelation being heard on the trial’s livestream on Wednesday afternoon.
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Jan. 6 Committee Plans to Subpoena Alex Jones' Cell Phone - Rolling Stone
Jones’ lawyers in a Sandy Hook defamation case fumbled three years worth of texts and emails. The committee would like to know more about any contacts with Donald Trump’s team regarding the Jan. 6 Capitol attack
The January 6th House committee is preparing to request the trove of Alex Jones’s text messages and emails revealed Wednesday in a defamation lawsuit filed by victims of the Sandy Hook massacre, Rolling Stone has learned.
On Wednesday, Sandy Hook victims’ attorney Mark Bankston told Jones that his attorney had mistakenly sent Bankston three years worth of the conspiracy theorist’s emails and text messages copied from his phone.
Now — a source familiar with the matter and another person briefed on it tell Rolling Stone — the January 6th committee is preparing to request that data from the plaintiff attorneys in order to aid its investigation of the insurrection. These internal deliberations among the committee, which is probing former President Donald Trump’s role in causing the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot, began within minutes of the lawyer’s revelation being heard on the trial’s livestream on Wednesday afternoon.
CONTINUED:
Jan. 6 Committee Plans to Subpoena Alex Jones' Cell Phone - Rolling Stone
Judge denies Alex Jones request for mistrial in U.S. defamation case
Alex Jones attempts to answer questions about his emails asked by Mark Bankston, lawyer for Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, during trial at the Travis County Courthouse, Austin, Texas, U.S., August 3, 2022.
Aug 4 (Reuters) - A Texas judge on Thursday denied Alex Jones's motion for a mistrial in a defamation case over the U.S. conspiracy theorist’s false claims about the Sandy Hook mass shooting.
The mistrial request came after it was disclosed at trial that Jones's lawyer accidentally sent two years of the U.S. conspiracy theorist's text messages to the plaintiffs.
Federico Andino Reynal, an attorney for Jones, told Judge Maya Guerra Gamble that attorneys for the plaintiffs should have immediately destroyed the records. An attorney for the parents, Mark Bankston, used the texts to undercut Jones’ testimony during cross-examination Wednesday.
Jones, founder of the Infowars radio show and webcast, is on trial to determine the amount of damages he owes for spreading falsehoods about the killing of 20 children and six staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012.
Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of slain first-grader Jesse Lewis, are seeking as much as $150 million from Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems LLC, for what their lawyer has called a "vile campaign of defamation."
Heslin told jurors on Tuesday that Jones' falsehoods had made his life “hell” and led to a campaign of harassment and death threats against him by people who believed he lied about his son’s death.
Jones previously claimed that the mainstream media and gun-control activists conspired to fabricate the Sandy Hook tragedy and that the shooting was staged using crisis actors.
Jones, who later acknowledged that the shooting took place, told the Austin jury on Wednesday that it was “100% real.”
Judge denies Alex Jones request for mistrial in U.S. defamation case | Reuters
Alex Jones attempts to answer questions about his emails asked by Mark Bankston, lawyer for Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, during trial at the Travis County Courthouse, Austin, Texas, U.S., August 3, 2022.
Aug 4 (Reuters) - A Texas judge on Thursday denied Alex Jones's motion for a mistrial in a defamation case over the U.S. conspiracy theorist’s false claims about the Sandy Hook mass shooting.
The mistrial request came after it was disclosed at trial that Jones's lawyer accidentally sent two years of the U.S. conspiracy theorist's text messages to the plaintiffs.
Federico Andino Reynal, an attorney for Jones, told Judge Maya Guerra Gamble that attorneys for the plaintiffs should have immediately destroyed the records. An attorney for the parents, Mark Bankston, used the texts to undercut Jones’ testimony during cross-examination Wednesday.
Jones, founder of the Infowars radio show and webcast, is on trial to determine the amount of damages he owes for spreading falsehoods about the killing of 20 children and six staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012.
Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of slain first-grader Jesse Lewis, are seeking as much as $150 million from Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems LLC, for what their lawyer has called a "vile campaign of defamation."
Heslin told jurors on Tuesday that Jones' falsehoods had made his life “hell” and led to a campaign of harassment and death threats against him by people who believed he lied about his son’s death.
Jones previously claimed that the mainstream media and gun-control activists conspired to fabricate the Sandy Hook tragedy and that the shooting was staged using crisis actors.
Jones, who later acknowledged that the shooting took place, told the Austin jury on Wednesday that it was “100% real.”
Judge denies Alex Jones request for mistrial in U.S. defamation case | Reuters
...... PUNITIVE damages next... fat sack of shit couldn't even be present for the reading of the verdict, no doubt crying on his podcast...
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His ex-wife is starting the REAL Infowars
I knew they weren't going to wait and let the weekend pass.... that gave that fat racist fuck a present for his weekend.... something for him to rant and rave about on his podcast
45.2 MILLION..... They should've awarded $145 million... hopefully the next two cases against that fat fuck will finish him
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45.2 MILLION..... They should've awarded $145 million... hopefully the next two cases against that fat fuck will finish him
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Jurors hit Alex Jones with a new $45.2 million penalty in Sandy Hook case
InfoWars founder Alex Jones must pay $ 45.2 million to the parents of Sandy Hook victim Jesse Lewis, jurors determined Friday — adding to the $4.1 million award verdict they assessed a day earlier — in response to calls to deliver a penalty large enough to shut down the Austin-based conspiracy theorist.
Whether the financial hit will muzzle Jones will depend on several factors, including a possible appeal and proceedings already underway in bankruptcy court.
Jones, who was not in the courtroom when the verdict was read, still faces two other damage award trials by Sandy Hook parents.
While Thursday's $4.1 million award was to compensate parents Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis for damage directly caused by Jones' yearslong campaign to portray the 2012 attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School as a hoax, the punitive damages awarded Friday were intended to punish Jones for his actions.
The punitive damages, which had to be agreed upon by all 12 jurors, broke down into three parts:
'Take the bullhorn away from Alex Jones'
The combined net worth of InfoWars founder Alex Jones and his main company, Free Speech Systems, ranges from $135 million to $270 million, an economic expert testified Friday morning.
With those large numbers in mind, a lawyer for the parents asked jurors to hit Jones with a monetary punishment large enough to shut Jones down and ensure he could not return to business.
"I am asking you to take the bullhorn away from Alex Jones … and all of the others who believe they can profit off of fear and misinformation," lawyer Wesley Ball said before jurors retired to consider how much to add to the $4.1 million damage award they assessed Thursday.
More: What did Alex Jones say about the Sandy Hook shooting?
"Make sure he can't do it again. That is punishment. That is deterrence," he said, noting that the jury's next task was to assess punitive damages that are meant to punish Jones for the damage caused by a yearslong campaign to portray the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting as a hoax intended to justify a government crackdown on guns.
Ball's suggestion: Punitive damages of $141.9 million, bringing the total award to their initial request of $150 million.
Andino Reynal, Jones' lawyer, countered by suggesting an award of $270,000, saying that would be proportionate and fair, particularly after Jones was hit with a substantial $4.1 million award that amounted to $14,000 per hour spent on Sandy Hook coverage based on videos that had been submitted as evidence.
"You've already sent a message. A message for the first time to a talk show host, to all talk show hosts, that their standard of care has to change," Reynal says.
But Ball said jurors had the opportunity to make a wider statement.
"We ask that you send a very, very simple message, and that is: Stop Alex Jones, stop the monetization of misinformation and lies," he said. "Truly you have the ability today to stop this man from ever doing this again, to continue to tear the fabric of or society apart."
Jones is a 'very successful man'
Before jurors began deliberating on punitive damages, they heard testimony on one of the factors they were instructed to weigh in making their decision — the net worth of Jones and Free Speech Systems as determined by economist Bernard Pettingill.
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Jurors hit Alex Jones with a new $45.2 million penalty in Sandy Hook case (statesman.com)
InfoWars founder Alex Jones must pay $ 45.2 million to the parents of Sandy Hook victim Jesse Lewis, jurors determined Friday — adding to the $4.1 million award verdict they assessed a day earlier — in response to calls to deliver a penalty large enough to shut down the Austin-based conspiracy theorist.
Whether the financial hit will muzzle Jones will depend on several factors, including a possible appeal and proceedings already underway in bankruptcy court.
Jones, who was not in the courtroom when the verdict was read, still faces two other damage award trials by Sandy Hook parents.
While Thursday's $4.1 million award was to compensate parents Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis for damage directly caused by Jones' yearslong campaign to portray the 2012 attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School as a hoax, the punitive damages awarded Friday were intended to punish Jones for his actions.
The punitive damages, which had to be agreed upon by all 12 jurors, broke down into three parts:
- $4.2 million for defaming Heslin in two reports that questioned his account of holding his dead son. Heslin testified that he made the statement in a 2017 NBC interview in hopes of ending Jones' campaign of depicting his son's death as a hoax in an attack that never happened.
- $20.5 million to Heslin for mental anguish.
- $20.5 million to Lewis for mental anguish.
'Take the bullhorn away from Alex Jones'
The combined net worth of InfoWars founder Alex Jones and his main company, Free Speech Systems, ranges from $135 million to $270 million, an economic expert testified Friday morning.
With those large numbers in mind, a lawyer for the parents asked jurors to hit Jones with a monetary punishment large enough to shut Jones down and ensure he could not return to business.
"I am asking you to take the bullhorn away from Alex Jones … and all of the others who believe they can profit off of fear and misinformation," lawyer Wesley Ball said before jurors retired to consider how much to add to the $4.1 million damage award they assessed Thursday.
More: What did Alex Jones say about the Sandy Hook shooting?
"Make sure he can't do it again. That is punishment. That is deterrence," he said, noting that the jury's next task was to assess punitive damages that are meant to punish Jones for the damage caused by a yearslong campaign to portray the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting as a hoax intended to justify a government crackdown on guns.
Ball's suggestion: Punitive damages of $141.9 million, bringing the total award to their initial request of $150 million.
Andino Reynal, Jones' lawyer, countered by suggesting an award of $270,000, saying that would be proportionate and fair, particularly after Jones was hit with a substantial $4.1 million award that amounted to $14,000 per hour spent on Sandy Hook coverage based on videos that had been submitted as evidence.
"You've already sent a message. A message for the first time to a talk show host, to all talk show hosts, that their standard of care has to change," Reynal says.
But Ball said jurors had the opportunity to make a wider statement.
"We ask that you send a very, very simple message, and that is: Stop Alex Jones, stop the monetization of misinformation and lies," he said. "Truly you have the ability today to stop this man from ever doing this again, to continue to tear the fabric of or society apart."
Jones is a 'very successful man'
Before jurors began deliberating on punitive damages, they heard testimony on one of the factors they were instructed to weigh in making their decision — the net worth of Jones and Free Speech Systems as determined by economist Bernard Pettingill.
CONTINUED:
Jurors hit Alex Jones with a new $45.2 million penalty in Sandy Hook case (statesman.com)
Soul On Ice: "Mods lightbright keeps following me around !!!"
[Best David Attenborough voice]"The rare, elusive simp.... simping"[/Best David Attenborough voice]
This is the same simp, that was bragging about being in a bar with his arm around a big booty Latina chick.....yet was on BGOL trolling.... claimed that he was in a hotel on Sunday morning..... yet was on BGOL trolling..... this is the same simp that couldn't even keep his first wife....... simp trifecta.... a simp round robin ... ya just hate to see it
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