Aug 4 (Reuters) – US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones must pay the parents of a child killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre at least $4.1 million for falsely claiming the shooting was a hoax, a Texas jury said Thursday.
The verdict followed a two-week trial in Austin, Texas, where Jones’ radio show and Infowars webcast are based. The amount fell well short of the millions of dollars in compensatory damages that had been sought.
Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the estranged parents of six-year-old Jesse Lewis, said Jones’ followers harassed them and sent them death threats for years in the false belief the parents were lying about their son’s death .
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The 12-person jury will next consider Jones’ parents’ request for punitive damages for spreading falsehoods about the killing of 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on 14 December 2012.
Those deliberations are expected to begin after the two sides present arguments on Jones’ net worth on Friday.
Jurors, who voted 10-2 on compensatory damages, could still award the parents a large punitive damages verdict if they think Jones’ conduct was not very harmful but deserved punishment, legal experts said.
“We are very pleased with the verdict and look forward to the punitive damages phase starting tomorrow,” Kyle Farrar, an attorney for the parents, said in an email.
Attorneys for Jones, who was not present in the courtroom as the verdict was read, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trial consultant Jill Huntley Taylor said it’s not unusual for a jury to award punitive damages higher than compensatory damages.
“If jurors’ motivation for an award is their anger at the defendant, they often award a higher number of punitive damages,” he said in an interview.
During closing arguments Wednesday, Farrar urged jurors to end what he called his nightmare and hold Jones accountable for profiting from his son’s death.
“100% REAL”
Alex Jones leaves the Travis County Courthouse for media interviews after being questioned under oath by attorney Mark Bankston about text messages and emails, in Austin, Texas, US, on August 3, 2022 Briana Sanchez/Pool via REUTERS
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Federico Reynal, Jones’ attorney, acknowledged during his closing argument that Jones and Infowars reported “irresponsibly” on Sandy Hook, but said his client was not responsible for the harassment.
Jones previously claimed that the mainstream media and gun control activists conspired to fabricate the Sandy Hook tragedy and that the shooting was staged with crisis actors.
He later acknowledged the shooting took place and tried to distance himself from earlier falsehoods during the trial, telling jurors it was “crazy” for him to repeatedly claim the shooting was a hoax.
He said the shooting was “100 percent real.”
In a surprising development, lawyers for Heslin and Lewis revealed Wednesday that Jones’ lawyers had inadvertently sent them two years of their texts and failed to ask for them in time.
Gamble on Thursday denied a mistrial motion by Jones’ attorney who argued the plaintiffs’ attorneys should have immediately destroyed the records. Now parents can use the records however they want.
Jones’ company, Free Speech Systems LLC, filed for bankruptcy last week. Jones said during a Monday broadcast that the filing will help the company stay on the air while it appeals.
Judge Maya Guerra Gamble admonished Jones on Tuesday for not telling the truth about his bankruptcy and compliance with discovery during his testimony.
The parents’ attorney also accused Jones of approaching the trial in bad faith, citing broadcasts where Jones said the trial was rigged against him and that the jury pool was filled with people who “don’t know what planet they meet”.
Heslin and Lewis joined other Sandy Hook parents in urging a judge to block the Free Speech System from sending money to Jones or his companies until they get to the bottom of their finances. Read more
The parents claim that Jones took $62 million from the company while loading it with $65 million in “fabricated” debt with PQPR Holdings, a company owned by Jones and his parents.
Jones was due to go to trial in a similar lawsuit in Connecticut in September, but that case is now on hold while the bankruptcy continues.
Sandy Hook gunman Adam Lanza, 20, used a Remington Bushmaster rifle to carry out the massacre. It ended when Lanza killed himself to the sound of approaching police sirens.
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Report by Jack Queen; edited by Amy Stevens, Noeleen Walder and Howard Goller
Our standards: the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.