Jurors began deliberating around 12:30 p.m. Friday, after Judge Maya Guerra Gamble reminded them that in a default judgment against him, Jones was already found liable for defamation and “intentional infliction of emotional distress.” against Lewis’ parents, Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin.
In an emotional closing argument Friday, Lewis and Heslin’s attorney, Wesley Todd Ball, told the jury, “We’re asking you to send a very simple message, and that is, stop Alex Jones. Stop monetizing misinformation and lies. Please.”
Ball urged jurors to “deter Alex Jones from doing this horrible thing again” and “to deter others who want to put themselves in his shoes”.
Jones’ attorney, Federico Andino Reynal, argued for a much lower sum, suggesting that jurors should multiply Jones’ alleged hourly earnings of $14,000 by the 18 hours he said Jones spoke about Sandy Hook in Infowars, for a sum of about $14,000. a quarter of a million dollars.
On Thursday, in the first phase of the trial, the jury awarded the parents $4.1 million in compensatory damages, far less than the $150 million the parents’ lawyers had sought. In his closing argument, Ball thanked the jury for its decision to award the $4.1 million, saying it had already made a big difference in the parents’ lives, and asked them to award enough punitive damages to raise the total to 150 million dollars.
Punitive damages are a form of punishment for the defendant’s behavior. Jones, the head of the conspiratorial media outlet Infowars, repeatedly lied about the Sandy Hook massacre. It fueled conspiracy theories about the victims and their families, prompting multiple defamation lawsuits. He has since acknowledged that the mass shooting happened.
Jones claimed in his testimony that a jury award of just $2 million would destroy him financially. But on Friday morning, jurors heard testimony about Jones’ wealth from an economist, Bernard Pettingill, Jr., who estimated Jones’ net worth to be between $135 million and $270 million.
Pettingill, Jr., who reviewed several years of records for Jones and Infowars, the free speech systems, said Jones used a series of shell companies to hide his money.
Jones used two large loans to make it look like he was broke when he really wasn’t, Pettingill, Jr. testified.
“Alex Jones knows where the money is, he knows where that money went and he knows that he will ultimately benefit from that money,” Pettingill, Jr. said.
After one of the jurors asked about the difference between Jones’ money and his company’s money, Pettingill, Jr. said that “you can’t separate Alex Jones from the companies. He is the companies.”
Jones “monetized his shit,” he added, even suggesting that Jones could teach a college course on his techniques.
For many years, Jones’ rants about Infowars have been combined with advertisements for supplements, documentaries, and other products that Infowars sells. Pettingill, Jr. said the money poured in, identifying nine different companies owned by Jones.
“He’s a very successful man, he promulgated hate speech and some misinformation, but he made a lot of money and monetized it,” Pettingill, Jr. said. at the stand “What I think about him is that he didn’t ride a wave, he created the wave.”
Jones testified earlier this week about his alleged financial problems after social media giants like Facebook and Twitter banned his content from their platforms.
“I remember him saying that, but the records don’t reflect that,” Pettingill, Jr. said.
During closing arguments, Ball claimed that Jones has even more money hidden elsewhere and argued that $4.1 million was a drop in Jones’ proverbial bucket. “It’s probably already come back with the donations” from supporters, Ball said.