On Friday, a jury in Alex Jones’ home state of Texas unanimously decided to punish him with $45.2 million, on top of the $4.1 million he had already been ordered to pay to the parents of Jesse Lewis, of 6 years , who died in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
The defamation suit was about Jones’ regular rants, on his Infowars website, that Sandy Hook was a hoax, staged, that none of the 20 dead children, nor their parents, were real:
From October 26, 2017: “I don’t know what really happened with Sandy Hook, folks. We looked all over the place, played devil’s advocate on both sides, but I mean, it’s as fake as a bill three dollars.”
From January 13, 2015: “Sandy Hook is a synthetic, completely fake, with, in my opinion, manufactured actors.”
The road to a trial for Alex Jones has been as ugly and wild a ride as last week’s trial turned out to be, correspondent Martha Teichner reports.
Scarlett Lewis, Jesse’s mother, addressed Jones from the stand: “Jesse was real. I’m a real mom … I know you know that; that’s the problem.”
Jesse’s father, Neil Heslin, described the harassment, including death threats, that he and the families of other Sandy Hook victims have faced because Jones’ supporters believed him. Heslin told the court: “I can’t even begin to describe the last nine and a half years of living hell that I and others have had to endure.”
Jones stated, “I’ve done some things that are wrong, and I didn’t do it on purpose, and I apologize.”
In one of the surprising moments in court last week, Alex Jones admitted he had lied. “Especially because I met the parents and, hey, it’s 100% real,” he claimed.
CBS News legal analyst Rikki Klieman told Teichner, “Alex Jones is exposed as a liar, and when Alex Jones later admits, he admits that he knew this happened at Sandy Hook and that it wasn’t a hoax , if that didn’t do it. you have chills, I don’t know what I would do.”
Another one of those moments: the revelation that Jones’ lawyer had mistakenly sent the other side years of text messages proving he was lying: The phone records Jones had claimed under oath didn’t exist. They are now of interest to the January 6 Commission.
Klieman said, “There is certainly a possibility that a prosecutor could look at the record in this case and say, ‘This is someone who committed perjury.'”
Teichner asked, “How much trouble is he really in?”
“I think Alex Jones is in a world of trouble,” he replied.
As a sideshow to the drama inside, outside the courtroom, Jones called a “witch hunt.”
“This is a kangaroo track,” he said. “This is a political action.”
And then, he cried poor. His company, Free Speech Systems, filed for bankruptcy.
Forensic economist Bernard Pettingill testified that Jones and his company are actually worth between $135 million and $270 million, and that he has been shielding money in shell companies.
He told the jury: “Alex Jones, as much of a maverick as he is, as much of an outsider as he is, he’s a very successful man… It all boils down to Alex Jones. I think Alex Jones made all the major decisions. and I think Alex Jones knows where the money is.”
Will Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin see the money they hoped for as a deterrent, stop Alex Jones and others profiting from spreading lies? Probably not. Texas limits punitive damages. That $45 million is likely to be knocked down.
And his lawyer stated that once the trial is over, Jones will continue with his show. “Alex Jones will be on the air today, he’ll be on the air tomorrow, he’ll be on the air next week,” he said.
But Jones still faces other trials, in Texas and Connecticut, where lies can be much more expensive.
“What a verdict really means is telling the truth,” Klieman said. “Will it really change the tenor of the age of information, lies, disinformation, subterfuge, falsehood? I don’t think we know yet, but at least it’s a start.”
Story produced by Mary Raffalli. Publisher: Mike Levine.
Rampage at the elementary school
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