Alex Jones to pay eye-watering sum in damages
Alex Jones, the host of far-right radio show InfoWars, has been ordered to pay a total of $US 49.3 million ($AUD 70.51 million) in damages for falsely claiming the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax.
A Texas jury ruled that Jones pay $45.2 million in punitive damages, after awarding $4.1 million in compensatory damages the previous day, per BBC News.
Jones has repeatedly claimed that the shooting at Sandy Hook primary school, Connecticut, where 20 children and adults were killed was a “hoax” carried out by actors who opposed the Second Amendment right to bear firearms.
Nail Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the plaintiffs in the case and whose son died in the shooting, asked the court for $150 million, claiming they endured harassment and emotional distress as a result of his misinformation.
Heslin told the court that Jones’ falsehoods had made his life “hell” and led to harassment and death threats from people who believed he had lied about his son’s death.
The $4.1 million in compensatory damages were issued on Thursday to cover the actual costs incurred by the plaintiffs as a result of Jones’ defamation, including the private security they hired out of fear a Jones supporter may attack them during the trial.
The following day’s $45.2 million are meant to deter Jones from repeating his offence.
“We ask that you send a very, very simple message and that is: Stop Alex Jones,” a lawyer for the parents said in court on Friday.
“Stop the monetisation of misinformation and lies. Please.”
Lawyers representing Heslin and Lewis accused Jones of trying to hide evidence, arguing that he committed perjury by denying having sent any messages about the shooting - with one attorney revealing that Jones’ legal representative accidentally sent them two years of Jones’ text messages.
“Did you know 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?” said attorney Mark Bankston, according to HuffPost.
“And when informed did not take any steps to identify it as privilege?”
"If I was mistaken, I was mistaken, you've got the text messages right there," Jones said.
Despite his long-held position that the shooting was fake, Jones acknowledged that it was “100 percent real” in court.
“I unintentionally took part in things that did hurt these people’s feelings, and I’m sorry for that,” Jones said.
However, the radio host has continued to use his media platform to claim the case was rigged against him, with his InfoWars depicting a judge being consumed by flames.
During his brief appearance in court, Jones was rebuked several times by the judge for lying under oath, including one moment where he was told: “This is not your show.”
The trial is one of three brought against Jones by family members of the Sandy Hook victims, and comes after he has lost a series of defamation cases filed by parents by default after he failed to produce documents or testimony.
But, this is the first trial where a jury agreed to award financial damages.
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