AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – For years, far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones told his millions of followers that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax, that no children were killed and that parents were crisis actors in an elaborate ruse to force gun control.
Under oath and before a jury that could award him $150 million or more in damages for his false claims, Jones said Wednesday that he now realizes he was irresponsible and believes what happened in the school shooting more deadliest in US history was ‘100% real’. “
Jones’ public contrition came on the final day of testimony in a two-week defamation lawsuit against him and his Austin media company, Free Speech Systems, brought by Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of Jesse Lewis , 6 years old. . Her son was a first-grader who was among the 20 students and six teachers killed at the school in Newtown, Conn., on December 14, 2012.
“I unwittingly participated in things that hurt those people’s feelings,” said Jones, who also acknowledged raising conspiracy claims about other mass tragedies, from the Oklahoma City bombings and the Boston Marathon to the mass shootings in Las Vegas and Parkland, Florida. and I’m sorry.”
But an apology isn’t enough for Heslin and Lewis. They said Jones and the media empire he controls and used to spread his false claims must be held accountable.
“Alex started this fight,” Heslin said, “and I’m going to finish this fight.”
The parents testified Tuesday about a decade of trauma, first inflicted by their son’s slaying and what followed: shots fired at a home, online and phone threats and street harassment by strangers, all fueled by by Jones and his conspiracy theory. extended to his followers through his website Infowars.
A forensic psychiatrist testified that the parents suffer from “complex post-traumatic stress disorder” caused by ongoing trauma, similar to what a soldier at war or a victim of child abuse might experience.
At one point in his testimony, Lewis looked directly at Jones, who was sitting just 10 feet away.
“It seems so incredible to me that we have to do this, that we have to beg you, to punish you, to get you to stop lying,” Lewis told Jones.
Courts in Texas and Connecticut have already held Jones liable for defamation for his portrayal of the Sandy Hook massacre as a hoax involving actors with the goal of increasing gun control.
Now, Heslin and Lewis are asking an Austin jury for $150 million in damages for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. They will also ask the jury to assess additional punitive damages.
Jurors began considering damages Wednesday. Once they determine whether Jones should pay the parents compensation for defamation and emotional distress, they must then decide whether they should also pay punitive damages. That part will involve a separate mini-trial with Jones and economists testifying about his and his company’s net worth.
Jones’ lawyer asked the jury to cap the damages at $8, one dollar for each of the compensatory charges they are considering, and Jones himself said that any award above $2 million “would sink us.”
At the end of Jones’ testimony, Mark Bankston, an attorney for the family, pulled a crumpled dollar bill from his pocket, showed it to Jones and held it in front of the parents.
“The day Sandy Hook happened, Alex Jones planted a seed of misinformation that lasted a decade,” the parents’ attorney Kyle Farrar told the jury in closing arguments. “And he just watered that seed over and over again until it bore fruit: cruelty and money.”
During his testimony, Jones said he had tried to backtrack on claims of cheating in the past, but “the media won’t let me take it back.”
Jones, who has been banned from major social media platforms for hate speech and abusive behavior, has described the lawsuit as an attack on his First Amendment rights and complained that he was “made angry as someone who he runs around talking about Sandy Hook and makes money. Sandy Hook, he’s obsessed with Sandy Hook.”
Eight days of testimony included videos of Jones and Infowars employees talking about the Sandy Hook conspiracy and even mocking Heslin’s description in a 2017 television interview that he had held the body of his dead son Jesse.” with a bullet hole in the head.” Heslin described that moment with her dead son to the jury.
Jones was the only witness to testify in his defense. And he was attacked by plaintiffs’ lawyers under cross-examination as they reviewed Jones’ own Sandy Hook video claims over the years and accused him of lying and trying to hide evidence, including text messages and emails about Sandy Hook. It also included internal emails sent by an Infowars employee saying “this Sandy Hook stuff is killing us.”
At one point, Jones was told his lawyers had mistakenly sent Bankston the last two years of text messages from Jones’ cellphone.
And shortly after Jones declared “I don’t use email,” Jones was shown one from his address and another from an Infowars business executive who told Jones the company had grossed $800,000 selling their products in a single day, which would amount to nearly $300 million in a year.
Jones has already tried to financially protect free speech systems. The company filed for federal bankruptcy protection last week. The Sandy Hook families have sued Jones separately over their financial claims, arguing that the company is trying to protect millions owned by Jones and his family through shell companies.
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Associated Press writer Paul J. Weber contributed to this report.
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