Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Tuesday failed in his bid to slash a nearly $50 million defamation verdict against him over his false claims that the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting was a hoax.
Judge Maya Guerra Gamble rejected arguments by a lawyer for Jones and the parent company of his Infowars website that a Texas state law capping certain types of damages meant that the August verdict in favor of two parents of a child slain at Sandy Hook should be cut by more than $40 million.
Jones claimed for years that the 2012 killing of 20 students and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, was staged with actors as part of a government plot to seize Americans’ guns. He has since acknowledged the shooting occurred.
Plaintiffs Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis testified that they suffered years of harassment and abuse at the hands of Jones’ followers, who falsely believed they lied about their six-year-old son Jesse Lewis' death.
Texas law caps non-economic punitive damages, which made up $45.2 million of the total verdict. Heslin and Lewis’ lawyers successfully argued that the cap does not apply due to a carveout for intentional abuse of a disabled person, saying trauma over their son's death counted as a disability.
“Our clients are pleased that the jury’s verdict was upheld in totality and my remaining clients look forward to closing out this vile chapter of American history by continuing to hold Mr Jones accountable,” Heslin and Lewis’...
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