The jury’s award was far less than what the plaintiffs, Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, had asked for. At the start of the trial, attorneys for Lewis and Heslin asked the jury to award their clients $150 million in compensatory damages.
A separate, shorter trial is now expected during which punitive damages will be discussed. Punitive damages are awarded when the court finds the defendant’s behavior to be particularly offensive.
Mark Bankston, an attorney for the parents, told CNN that they are “thrilled” with the jury’s decision, noting that the jury has not yet “even decided on punitive damages.”
The jury’s decision is a partial end to a years-long process that began in 2018 when Lewis and Heslin sued Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, which is the parent of the right-wing media organization Infowars.
Jones baselessly said after the Sandy Hook shooting, in which 26 people died, that the incident was staged. Under multiple demands, Jones later acknowledged that the shooting occurred. He told the court this week that he now believed it was “100% real”.
But Jones failed to comply with court orders during the lawsuit’s discovery process. Their failure to do so resulted in Heslin and Lewis winning default judgments against Jones.
Judge Maya Guerra Gamble ruled in October that Jones was legally responsible for inflicting emotional distress on Heslin and Lewis. Gamble also ruled that Jones was liable for defaming Heslin.
Jones claimed in his testimony that a jury award of just $2 million would destroy him financially.
But the accountant now overseeing Jones’ company Free Speech Systems, the parent of his conspiracy media outlet Infowars, testified in bankruptcy court Wednesday that Jones withdrew about $62 million from the company for 14 years, of which about 30 million dollars. it was paid to the IRS.
And the accountant stated that Infowars had received about $9 million in cryptocurrency donations and that “they went directly to Mr. Jones.”
The decision to punish Jones in these terms also comes at a seismic moment in American society, where lies and conspiracy theories have flourished in recent years.
The jury’s decision, while far less than what the plaintiffs’ lawyers had sought, sends a message to those who push lies into the public conversation, whether for political power or financial gain, that there can be consequences for this behavior.
“Speech is free, but lies must be paid for,” attorneys for the Sandy Hook family argued to the jury during their opening statements and closing arguments.
During the trial, Heslin and Lewis gave emotional testimony, telling jurors that the lies pushed by Jones tarnished their son Jesse’s legacy and tormented them for years.
Fighting back tears at times, Heslin told the jury that Jones, through his conspiracy media organization Infowars, “tarnished the honor and the legacy” of his son. Heslin said he couldn’t “even begin to describe the last nine and a half years of hell” he’s endured because of Jones, detailing how he fears for the safety of himself and his family
In one notable moment in court, Lewis spoke directly to Jones, saying he wanted to get in his face.
“Jesse was real,” Lewis told Jones. “I’m a real mother.”
Lewis told the jury he feels monetary damages were appropriate in the case because he doesn’t believe Jones would stop his behavior.
“There hasn’t been a sincere apology,” he said. “But if there ever was, I liken it to being in a car accident and hitting someone and causing massive bodily harm and looking at that person lying on the ground and saying, ‘I’m so sorry, I’m sorry, I’m not responsible. none of the damage I just caused, but I’m sorry. That’s how I see it.”
Lewis also reflected on what it meant for the trial to take place.
“It’s so incredible to me that we have to do this,” Lewis told Jones. “That we have to beg you, not just implore you, punish you, to stop lying… It’s surreal what’s going on here.”
The trial in Texas is one of three expected to unfold in the coming months.
A different group of Sandy Hook families sued Jones in Connecticut. Those families also won a default judgment against Jones, and a trial was scheduled to begin in September. But jury selection was suspended on the same day it began earlier this week, and the trial could be delayed because of a bankruptcy filing by Free Speech Systems.
Attorneys representing some Sandy Hook families have accused Jones of draining Free Speech Systems’ assets in recent years as part of an effort to protect himself from potential lawsuits he could be ordered to pay.
One of the lawyers, Avi Moshenberg, told CNN on Tuesday that the bankruptcy filing by Free Speech Systems indicated that $62 million in assets had been withdrawn from the company in 2021 and 2022.
“If you look at the bankruptcy filing, which led to the bankruptcy filing, Alex Jones, the sole owner [of Free Speech Systems], took $62 million in draws in 2021 and 2022,” Moshenberg told CNN. “Just straight draws. That’s why the company has few assets.”