Texas jury orders far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in Texas to pay punitive damages of $45.2 million to the parents of Sandy Hook victim. A day earlier, the same jury. Family awarded $4.1 MillionIn compensatory damages, Jones was found liable for defamation after a judge ruled that Jones’ claims of the shooting were “a hoax”.
Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin sued Jones in 2018 after their 6-year-old son Jesse was killed along with six other children in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Connecticut. Scarlett Lewis also sued Jones and Free Speech Systems, Jones’ media company. In the original lawsuit, the couple sought damages of at least $150,000,000.
Heslin described the emotional testimony that Lewis and Lewis gave during the trial and it culminated in the decision. How their lives were affectedJones’s false claims.
Heslin testified Tuesday that Jones’ followers had made it clear that Jones was causing them abuse. According to Heslin, the two claimed that someone shot at their car and home as well as threatening emails were sent to them.
“Jesse was real. Lewis, speaking to Jones, said that she was a real mother. “…I’m sure you know that. And that’s the problem.”
Jones responded by shaking his head.
She said, “I know that you believe me.” “But yet, you’re leaving this courthouse, and you’re gonna say it again on you show.”
The host of “Infowars”, who is now facing two additional damages trials for false claims that the shooting was staged by him, has admitted in his testimony that the shooting took place “100% real”But he dismissed the trial as a “kangaroo Court”
Jones and his company can be worth as high as $270 million according to economist Bernard Pettingill. Pettingill was hired by the plaintiffs in order to analyze Jones’ net worth. Pettingill stated that Jones had $62 million in personal funds in 2021 when default judgments were made against him.
Pettingill stated that “that number represents, in my view, a value a net worth.” “He has money in some bank account.”
Pettingill said that Jones’ money eventually flows to him. Pettingill also stated that he has testified at approximately 1,500 cases in his career.
Pettingill stated that Jones is “very successful” and called him a “maverick”, as well as a “revolutionary” for his efforts to monetize online messaging.
Jones — who was in the courtroom briefly Friday but left before Pettingill’s testimony — told jurors earlier this week that any award over $2 million would “sink us.” Free Speech Systems (Infowars’ parent company) filed for federal bankruptcy protection last week.
Jones still In two additional lawsuits, the defendant faces a penalty trialFamilies of Sandy Hook victims brought two copies, one in Texas, and one in Connecticut. Jones has already been convicted by default in all of these trials.
Source: CBS News
