“US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been ordered to pay $49.3m (£41m) in damages after falsely claiming a 2012 school shooting was a hoax.” BBC reported.
A jury in Texas decided that Jones would pay $45.2m in punitive damages and $4.1m in compensatory damages to the deceased child’s parents.
Six-year-old Jesse Heslin was shot dead during the primary school shooting at Sandy Hook in Connecticut, along with nineteen other kids and six adults.
Jesse’s parents, Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin filed a defamation case against the radio host who portrayed the whole incident as a hoax on his show, Infowars.
The Sandy School Elementary shooting took place on December 14, 2012. The incident involved a twenty-year-old boy Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people, including students and staff members.
The Alex Jones Show host from Austin, Texas, has been under harsh criticism for claiming that the federal government staged the massacre and was just a hoax.
As per Daily Mail, The Sandy Hook families sued Jones for his brutal claims and stated that the right-wing conspiracy theorist had benefitted from spreading false claims that were highly insensitive and hurtful to all the parents who lost their children in the attack.
“Sandy Hook is synthetic, completely fake with actors, in my view, manufactured,” he said on his Infowars show in 2015.
His show has been entirely removed from Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other mainstream platforms; however, it is still on-air on several radio stations.
Recently after a long legal battle and several protests and public hate against him, Jones finally admitted in the Texas court that the shooting wasn’t a hoax.
“Sandy Hooks shooting denier Alex Jones has finally admitted that the most deadly school massacre in American history wasn’t a hoax after 10 years of causing victims’ parents utter misery.”
“The InfoWars host squirmed and sweated in his seat at trial after agreeing it was irresponsible of him to declare the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre a hoax and that he now believes it was ‘100% real.’” Wrote Daily Mail.
During this week’s trial, Jesse’s parents said in the Travis County Courthouse that no apology will ever be enough for them for the emotional trauma caused at the hands of Jones.
“He needs to be held accountable for repeatedly spreading falsehoods about the shooting, and we are seeking at least $150million in the deformation case against Jones and his media company, Free Speech Systems.”
The devastated parents also explained that they had received several death threats online and had been subjected to bullying and harassment because of Alex Jones and his rubbish theories.
The final verdict came on Friday, August 5, when the court decided that Jones was guilty of promulgating hate speech, spreading misinformation, and making a lot of money with his vicious theories.
“Alex Jones is worth almost $270 million that we know of. Please take an amount that punishes him, and an amount that ensures he never does this again.” Said the attorney for the victims’ families.
“Jones and InfoWars are worth between $135 million and $270 million combined.”
As per the outlet, this is the first of three defamation trials that Alex Jones will face for making false claims regarding the 2012 mass shooting.
“Two others are set for September, one in Texas and one in Connecticut, where the shooting occurred. A total of eight families will be represented in the Connecticut trial.”
After the jury’s decision, Jesse’s mom, Scarlett Lewis, wrote on Twitter, “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.”
“Ironically, Alex Jones ended up giving me a larger platform to share Jesse’s story and message.”
What are your thoughts on the verdict in this case? Let us know in the comments.
Sources:
