On Friday, a jury in Austin, Texas, found that talk-show host Alex Jones must pay $45.2 million in punitive damages to the parents of a victim of the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting. The $45.2 million is in addition to a $4.1 million dollar award for compensatory damages announced on Thursday.
Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, who was slain in the Sandy Hook school shooting, are set to receive the massive financial award based on their assertion that followers of Jones harassed them as a result of the talk-show host sharing conspiracy theories that the Sandy Hook shooting may have been a hoax.
Heslin and Lewis’ attorneys told jurors that they should penalize Jones in a way that destroyed his media empire.
“I am asking you to take the bullhorn away from Alex Jones and all others who believe they can profit off fear and misinformation,” said Wesley Ball, an attorney for the plaintiffs.
“Take him out of this discourse of this misinformation, of this peddling of lies and make sure he can’t do it again,” Ball advised the jury.
“I ask that with your verdict you not only take Alex Jones’ platform away, you make certain he will not rebuild the platform,” Ball added. “That is punishment. That is deterrence…. Alex Jones is patient zero for alternative facts…. I hope we never see someone like him again.”
“I suggest to you to return a verdict that is proportionate,” said Jones’ attorney Federico Andino Reynal. “You’ve already sent a message. A message for the first time to a talk show host, to all talk show hosts, that their standard of care has to change.” Based on the number of hours Jones spent talking about Sandy Hook, Reynal asked the jury for a verdict of $270,000.
Unfortunately for Jones, the jury was more interested in doling out punishment to Jones, a controversial figure to be certain, although the combined total of $49.3 million was far less than the $150 million sought by the plaintiffs.
It is not likely that the plaintiffs will get anywhere near the nearly $50 million ordered by the jury, as the state of Texas has a cap on punitive damages of two times the amount of economic damages, which were declared to be only $4.1 million.
Lewis was ecstatic over the victory, and considered it a vindication of her son’s death, saying: “Sandy Hook happened. Jesse was a hero. Alex Jones was held accountable. Today the jury proved that most of America is ready to choose love over fear and I’ll be forever grateful to them.”
According to Reynal, Jones isn’t going anywhere: “Alex Jones will be on the air today, and he will be on the air next week. He’s going to keep doing his job holding our power structure accountable.”
Asked by Fox News about Jones’ reaction to the verdict, Reynal said: “His reaction was that he’d been found guilty before he ever had a chance to defend this case on the merits. The First Amendment is under siege, and he looks forward to continuing the fight.”
During Friday’s proceedings, forensic economist Bernard Pettingill Jr. estimated Jones’ and Infowars’ net worth at between $135 million and $270 million.
In testimony, Pettingill said that Jones “promulgated some hate speech and some misinformation” and “made a lot of money” in the process.
Last week, Jones’ company Free Speech Systems LLC declared bankruptcy, claiming liabilities of between $50 million to $100 million and assets of only $10 million to $50 million.
Jones claims he doesn’t have the cash to pay what is ordered. “My net worth is below $5 million if you count everything I’ve got,” he said Friday evening.
He still faces two more trials connected with his discussions about the Sandy Hook school shooting, one in Texas and another in Connecticut. A total of eight more families will be represented in the Connecticut trial.
One thing that should be noted is that, at least from the perspective of the attorneys for Heslin and Lewis, the trial seems to be as much about silencing people like Jones as it is about grieving families. You can discern that by looking at Ball’s wish that the jury “take him out of … discourse” and “take Alex Jones’ platform away.”
Alex Jones is not being attacked for hurting the families of Sandy Hook, so much as he’s being attacked for bringing up topics that the Deep State would rather not talk about.
