Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’s slander and cruelty toward Sandy Hook Elementary Parents whose children were gunned down at school in 2012 have a price tag — $965 million.
On Wednesday, a Connecticut jury in the nearly 5-week trial awarded nine people in the defamation lawsuit–eight Sandy Hook families and a federal agent almost $1 billion.
The parents were emotional at the verdict reading, but Jones was not present in court.
Jones, through his media platform Infowars, defamed the victims of the attack, saying they were paid crisis actors and that the mass shooting was a hoax.
The massacre took place on December 14, 2012, where 26 victims were killed including 20 children.
Nicole Hockley testified that Jones’s followers sent her photos of dead children, denying that her then 6-year-old son Dylan was never killed in the massacre where 27 people, including 20 children, were killed.
“I got sent pictures of dead kids because [harassers said] as a ‘crisis actor’ I didn’t know what dead kids looked like,” Hockley told the court.
Parents Mark and Jackie Barden said they received a letter from someone telling them they urinated on their 7-year-old son’s grave, and another threatened to dig up the grave to prove their son Daniel never existed.
“I guess the good guys just won the info wars.” Jimmy Kimmel.
Daniel existed, and he was, in fact, one of the Sandy Hook victims.
The court learned that Jones used the tragedy to make a profit. According to Huffington Post, on September 25, 2014, Infowars published a bogus story alleging the FBI said nobody was killed at the Sandy Hook Massacre.
After the story ran, Infowars saw a revenue increase of nearly $200,000.
Jones has remained unrepentant. He mocked the verdict live on his show and promised to tie the case up in endless court battles and not pay a dime because he had no money.
Comedian Jimmy Kimmel mocked Jones’ hissy-fits and called him a “despicable and ridiculous Alex Jones.”
“Between the two cases, he now owes the parents over a billion dollars in damages,” Kimmel said. “I guess the good guys just won the info wars.”
Kimmel played a segment of Jones’ show where he urged listeners to buy his products and flood them with donations.
“Go get that money for those parents, you disgusting pig person,” Kimmel said amid his audience’s laughter.
He currently offers products on his platform at steep discounts under the banner “save Infowars extended emergency broadcast.”
He said the jury was rigged, and he was under attack because he exposed “these people.”
The verdict is the second large damages judgment against Jones. In August, a Texas jury ordered Jones to pay almost $50 million to Neil Heslin and Scarlet Lewis. Their 6-year-old son, Jesse Lewis, was among the children Jones said never existed after the 2012 massacre. He existed.
Jones’ verdict has received much support on Twitter, with many saying the judgment is a warning to the people broadcasting disinformation.
Jones, a staunch Donald Trump ally, is part of the right-wing media with a large following that has capitalized on spreading disinformation and conspiracy theories.
Click here to read AP coverage of the case.
Here’s the verdict as read in court.
