A Texas appeals court on Friday lowered a $50 million judgment to $1.5 million against Infowars founder and former host Alex Jones over falsely claiming the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax.
The Texas Third Court of Appeals found that two of the victim’s parents, Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, didn’t provide enough evidence to show that the harassment following Jones’ comments was enough to allow the court to exceed the state’s $750,000 limit on damages for each parent, The Associated Press reported. Texas law limits the amount of damages parties can receive in defamation cases.
Download the Straight Arrow app today to get the stories that matter free from manipulation, bias or agenda.
The parents’ son, 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, was one of the 20 children and six teachers killed in the attack. The lawsuit was the first time Jones was held liable for false statements he made about the attack. He claimed the government faked the attack to enact stricter gun laws.
Jones claimed the lawsuit was an attack on his First Amendment rights but later acknowledged during the trial that the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, was “100% real,” and he was wrong for saying otherwise.
After the Texas court’s ruling, Jones went on his streaming show and said it was “a gigantic victory for the First Amendment,” the AP reported. He said he would continue to fight the case and planned to appeal it to the Texas Supreme Court to get the remaining damages tossed.
“I...
A US court has slashed a $50 million judgement that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was ordered to pay families of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre over his false claims that the mass...