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Alex Jones trial - live: Jury tells Infowars host to pay $45.2m in punitive damages on top of $4m compensation

A second verdict has been reached in the trial of Infowars founder and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. The jury in Austin, Texas, decided on Thursday he must pay more than $4m in compensation to the parents of six-year-old Jesse Lewis who was killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre. On Friday they ordered Jones to pay an additional $45.2m in punitive damages.

Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis filed a defamation suit against Jones over his claims that the school shooting, that saw 20 children and six adults killed, was a hoax.

Both gave impassioned testimony when in the witness box about how Jones’ lies — broadcast to millions — had impacted their lives and prolonged their grief.

Jones now faces another trial in Texas brought by a different victim’s parents, and another in Connecticut for the families of eight of the other victims.

It transpired during the trial that his own lawyer had mistakenly shared the entire contents of Jones’ phone with the opposition legal team who have been asked to provide it to the January 6 committee.

Key Points

ICYMI: Jury orders Jones to pay additional $45.2m in punitive damages

14:30 , Oliver O'Connell

The jury has told Alex Jones to pay an additional $45.2m in punitive damages on top of the $4.1m in compensatory damages they ordered him to pay yesterday.

Jones and his company now owe a total of $49.3m.

Graeme Massie reports.

Alex Jones ordered to pay additional $45.2m in punitive damages by Texas jury

Voices: Alex Jones is getting where it hurts: his wallet. And that might finally change America

13:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Hannah Selinger writes:

We have been appealing to the common decency of far-right provocateurs for a long time. But now Jones has lost his final court battle and a big chunk of his money, those people might actually start listening.

Alex Jones is getting where it hurts: his wallet. That might finally change things

ICYMI: Alex Jones’ attorney mistakenly sent two years of his text messages to opposing counsel

10:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Alex Jonesattorney accidentally sent two years of his text messages to the lawyer representing the parents of a child killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting, a court has been told.

Mark Bankston, who representing Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis in their ongoing defamation trial against Jones, made the stunning claim during cross-examination of the Infowars founder on Wednesday.

Bevan Hurley reports.

Alex Jones’ attorney mistakenly sent two years of his text messages to rival lawyer

Alex Jones claims created ‘living hell’ for Sandy Hook parents

07:30 , Oliver O'Connell

The parents of a 6-year-old killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting described being put through a “living hell” of death threats, harassment and ongoing trauma over the past decade as they confronted conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who has used his media platforms to push claims that it was all a hoax.

Sandy Hook parents: Alex Jones claims created 'living hell'

Jones 'cowardly' for missing court, Sandy Hook dad says

04:30 , Oliver O'Connell

The father of a 6-year-old killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting said Tuesday that it was “cowardly” of Alex Jones to skip hearing his testimony in person about how Jones’ claims that the massacre was a hoax deeply affected his family.

Alex Jones 'cowardly' for missing court, Sandy Hook dad says

Jones trial shown video of Infowars host belittling jury and accusing judge of ‘rigging’ case

03:00 , Oliver O'Connell

The Alex Jones defamation trial was shown a video of the Infowars host belittling the jury in his case and the judge being accused of “rigging” the proceedings.

The lawyer for the parents of a child killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre played the video, which saw Mr Jones say that the jury consisted of people who “don’t know what planet they’re on”.

Graeme Massie reports.

Alex Jones trial shown video of Infowars host belittling jury

About those Alex Jones - Roger Stone texts

02:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Stone says they were “intimate” — they prayed together.

ICYMI: Jury orders Jones to pay additional $45.2m in punitive damages

02:00 , Oliver O'Connell

The jury has told Alex Jones to pay an additional $45.2m in punitive damages on top of the $4.1m in compensatory damages they ordered him to pay yesterday.

Jones and his company now owe a total of $49.3m.

Alex Jones ordered to pay additional $45.2m in punitive damages by Texas jury

Why the false flag conspiracist is being sued by the victims’ families

01:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Hours after 26 people were shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, Alex Jones began spouting false claims that the massacre wasn’t real.

More than 10 years later, the far-right conspiracy theorist’s inflammatory comments have continued to haunt him as families of the shooting victims – 20 of which were young children – hold him accountable in court.

Following multiple attempts from the Infowars host to delay and derail justice, his time is finally up.

Why is Alex Jones being sued by families of children killed in Sandy Hook massacre?

Watch: Jones still has his defenders

Saturday 6 August 2022 00:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Via The Republican Accountability Project and @Acyn, here’s Marjorie Taylor Greene at CPAC in Dallas earlier today:

Parents of Sandy Hook victim rip into ‘psychopath’ Alex Jones at trial

Saturday 6 August 2022 00:00 , Oliver O'Connell

The father of a 6-year-old boy murdered in the Sandy Hook school shooting says “pyscopaths like Alex Jones” made it impossible to heal during his testimony at the Infowars founder’s defamation trial on Tuesday.

Neil Heslin labelled Jones as “cowardly” for skipping his testimony and lambasted the talking head for his false claims that the mass shooting, sharing that Jones’ theories left his family living in a constant state of fear.

“What was said about me and Sandy Hook itself resonates around the world,” Mr Heslin testified at the Travis County Courthouse in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday.

Parents of Sandy Hook victims rip into ‘psychopath’ Alex Jones at trial

Watch: Jury awards parents of Sandy Hook victim $45.2m in punitive damages

Friday 5 August 2022 23:20 , Oliver O'Connell

Jones attorney to appeal amount

Friday 5 August 2022 23:01 , Oliver O'Connell

Verdict: Jones told to pay additional $45.2m in punitive damages

Friday 5 August 2022 22:50 , Oliver O'Connell

The jury has told Alex Jones to pay an additional $45.2m in punitive damages on top of the $4.1m in compensatory damages they ordered him to pay yesterday.

Jones and his company now owe a total of $49.1m.

Alex Jones ordered to pay additional $45.2m in punitive damages by Texas jury

Verdict coming soon

Friday 5 August 2022 22:31 , Oliver O'Connell

A verdict on punitive damages is expected imminently.

The plaintiffs have returned to the courtroom.

Forgiveness and accountability

Friday 5 August 2022 22:27 , Oliver O'Connell

Scarlett Lewis, the mother of six-year-old Jesse Lewis who died at Sandy Hook, was the co-plaintiff with Jesse’s father Neil Heslin. After Thursday’s compensatory damages verdict, she had this to say to Alex Jones on Twitter:

Alex Jones, I forgive you. But today we held you accountable.

Economist: Alex Jones, his company worth up to $270m

Friday 5 August 2022 22:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his company Free Speech Systems are worth up to $270 million, an economist testified Friday to a jury trying to determine if Jones should have to pay punitive damages to the family of a 6-year-old killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings.

The same jury ordered Jones to pay Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis $4.1 million in compensation for defamation. Punitive damages are determined as a separate issue, and the parents want to punish Jones for a decade of pushing false hoax claims that they say led to a decade of trauma and abuse from the Infowars host’s followers.

Economist: Alex Jones, his company worth up to $270 million

'At one point I thought he was going to start yelling or chanting ‘lock her up’’

Friday 5 August 2022 21:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Typically bombastic Jones makes for complicated court

Friday 5 August 2022 21:10 , Oliver O'Connell

Far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones bulled through the first of several trials against him that could decimate his personal fortune and media empire in his usual way: Loud, aggressive, and talking about conspiracies both in and out the courtroom.

It’s business as usual for the gravelly voiced, barrel-chested Jones. But by courtroom standards, his erratic and, at times, disrespectful behavior is unusual — and potentially complicated for the legal process.

Typically bombastic Alex Jones makes for complicated court

Voices: Let’s be honest — real justice wasn’t served in the Alex Jones trial

Friday 5 August 2022 20:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Hannah Selinger writes:

The parents who sued Jones — whose son, Jesse, was murdered at Sandy Hook — had sought damages in the amount of $150 million. That was not a purposeless number born of pure greed. And now Jones will pay only $4.1 million, which won’t have the intended effect at all.

Let’s be honest — real justice wasn’t served in the Alex Jones trial

Friday 5 August 2022 20:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Dan Solomon of Texas Monthly has more information on what to expect from the punitive damages verdict in this portion of the trial.

The $750,000 cap on punitive damages is real, but the plaintiffs’ attorney Mark Bankston believes they can argue that it does not apply in this case and that they are ready to challenge the constitutionality of the cap in the state supreme court.

Yesterday: Jones ordered to pay more than $4m compensatory damages

Friday 5 August 2022 20:14 , Oliver O'Connell

Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been ordered to pay $4.11m (£3.38m) in compensatory damages to the family of a Sandy Hook victim.

Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose six-year-old son Jesse was among the 20 students and six adults killed in the mass shooting, sued Jones and his media company for the claims he has made that the massacre was a “false flag” operation and that the victims did not actually exist.

They had asked for $150m in compensatory damages and another trial to determine punitive damages is now expected to take place on Friday.

Graeme Massie reports.

Alex Jones ordered to pay more than $4m compensatory damages to Sandy Hook family

Friday 5 August 2022 19:35 , Oliver O'Connell

Jones began putting $11,000 per day in ‘shell’ company after Sandy Hook cases

Friday 5 August 2022 19:02 , Oliver O'Connell

Alex Jones began putting $11,000 a day into an alleged shell company after being found liable in the Sandy Hook cases, a court heard.

The right-wing conspiracy theorist was ordered to pay $4.11m in compensatory damages to the family of a six-year-old victim of the school shooting on Thursday.

And during Friday’s hearing on punitive damages, an expert testified on the extent of the Infowars founder’s wealth.

Graeme Massie reports.

Friday 5 August 2022 18:27 , Oliver O'Connell

Concluding, Mr Ball urges the jury to send a message to the public to choose love over the “hate and fear that man peddles”.

The jury will now go to deliberate and the court breaks for lunch.

There is no indication of how long the jury will spend on deliberations.

Friday 5 August 2022 18:23 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Ball says that Jones and his lawyers have said there were no text messages and no money and yet were proved wrong by the evidence shown in court.

He brings up the text messages produced from the accidental data dump by Jones’ attorney, with the reference to presenting Covid as fake as “Sandy Hook all over again” to which Jones responds: “I get it.”

This was then followed by more texts discussing how much money was coming in from the meal prep kits, showing they had both money and texts.

Mr Ball’s argument is that if they won’t stop lying in court they won’t stop lying outside.

Friday 5 August 2022 18:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Court is back in session with the closing rebuttal from the plaintiffs’ attorney.

Mr Ball says: “I told you Alex Jones will not change. After everything I heard this man say, I am convinced of this.”

He recalls what Jones has said just this week about the judge, the jury, and the plaintiffs. “We are in the reality that he tries to come up with!”

He adds: “The irony here, the hypocrisy is so thick I could cut it with a butter knife... that man will sit there and spew his lies and misinformation as long as he keeps getting a check.”

Friday 5 August 2022 17:57 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Reynal reminds the jury that the case is not USA vs Alex Jones, nor the people of Sandy Hook vs Alex Jones. Any money they award is for Mr Heslin and MsLewis.

He argues that they’ve now talked about Sandy Hook more in the courtroom “than Alex Jones ever did on air”.

Mr Reynal concedes that Jones ran with the Sandy Hook hoax story “irresponsibly” and “he shouldn’t have done it” and since says he admitted it was “crazy”.

He argues that the story was weaponised by the Clinton campaign in 2016 and also again mentions Megyn Kelly show on the topic and more generally the mainstream media’s coverage. He adds that Jones cannot be held accountable for one in four Americans doubting what happened at Sandy Hook.

Mr Reynal tries to get into a free speech argument, but an objection is sustained by Judge Gamble — libel and defamation are not protected speech.

The defence also questions Jones’ net worth and that of his company, but also did not present any counter information to that offered by the plaintiffs’ attorneys.

Concluding, he says: “You’ve already sent a message to Alex.”

He urges them to return a proportionate amount: “I suggest that the way to do that is by taking the gross sum of $14k an hour and multiplying it by those hours on those videos.”

The court takes a 15-minute break.

Friday 5 August 2022 17:36 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Reynal now offers his closing argument for Jones.

He argues that the jury has already sent a message to Jones and others with the compensatory damages of $4.1m which he says is a lot of money.

Friday 5 August 2022 17:33 , Oliver O'Connell

In closing, Mr Ball asks the jury for $145.9m (the remainder of the original amount requested in the suit and says: “I am asking you to tap into your courage today, that the gold rush of fear and misinformation must end, and it must end today.”

Friday 5 August 2022 17:29 , Oliver O'Connell

“When he breathes he lies!” plaintiffs’ attorney says of Jones.

Friday 5 August 2022 17:26 , Oliver O'Connell

Referencing the leaked phone data, Mr Ball says they know Jones lies about his wealth and income, citing that he made $4m in a week after he was deplatformed from social media.

“He lied to make his money, and he lied to keep his money. $135m to $270m.”

Mr Ball calls InfoWars a “media empire,” and asks the jury to cut it out so it doesn’t continue to grow. He also adds that the money they have been told about in court is just what they know about from all of Jones’ income streams.

He adds that any figure will not impact Jones, but the $4.1m already awarded will change the lives of the plaintiffs.

Mr Ball, calling Jones “a literal human infomercial” even on the witness stand, says that Jones may have even made the money back already in donations, having framed yesterday’s verdict as a win for him.

Friday 5 August 2022 17:16 , Oliver O'Connell

“I ask that you not only take Alex Jones’ platform away, I ask that you make sure he can’t rebuild the platform,” Mr Ball says. “That is punishment, that is deterrence.”

“Alex Jones is Patient Zero for our society’s ability to be able to speak without lies.”

Friday 5 August 2022 17:12 , Oliver O'Connell

“It’s the power you do not hold that I find most compelling when it comes to rendering your final verdict. You do not have the power to teach Alex Jones a lesson. You do not have the power to change Alex Jones. And you do not have the power to make Alex Jones care.”

He adds that it has “become so incredibly obvious” over the course of the trial that is the case.

“Throughout this trial, he hasn’t been here, I guess for the times may be when he’s not selling his supplements.”

He reminds the jury that Jones was not there when Mr Heslin was testifying about his son, because he was on air “telling a worldwide audience that that man was slow and that he was on the spectrum.”

Friday 5 August 2022 17:07 , Oliver O'Connell

In his closing statement, Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis’ attorney thanks the jurors.

“With your verdict, you have restored Jesse’s name. You have restored Jesse’s honour.”

“We ask that you send a very simple message. And that is, stop Alex Jones. Stop the monetisation of misinformation and lies. Please.”

He reminds the jury that all the evidence from earlier in the trial remains relevant and that Jones and his company have already been found guilty of defamation.

“You have two jobs remaining. You are asked to punish Alex Jones, a man who’s not sitting here today and can not face you. You are asked to deter Alex Jones from ever doing this again to another family or another person, and to deter others who may wish to step into his shoes.”

Friday 5 August 2022 17:03 , Oliver O'Connell

The main difference between the jury instructions from yesterday is that while each count needs to be assigned a dollar amount of punitive damages, each decision must be unanimous, whereas yesterday only 10 jurors needed to agree to the compensatory damages.

Friday 5 August 2022 16:50 , Oliver O'Connell

Judge Gamble overrules Mr Reynal’s objection as they have already discussed the charge sheet and he has agreed to the jury instruction at a special conference days ago when he could’ve objected but did not.

Friday 5 August 2022 16:45 , Oliver O'Connell

As Judge Gamble reads the jury charge, Mr Reynal calls for a bench conference and the jury is asked to leave the room for a mid-morning break.

He appears to have an issue with the language of the charge, which angers the plaintiffs’ team.

Judge Gamble notes that they had a conference on the jury charge without issue, but has left the courtroom to consider the issue.

Friday 5 August 2022 16:37 , Oliver O'Connell

The jury returns to the courtroom and Mr Pettingill is asked their written questions after approval from Judge Gamble.

Answering the questions, Mr Pettingill says it is common for executives to pay themselves from loans from the corporation as Jones did.

Asked about the difference between the net worth of Jones and his companies, Mr Pettingill says that Jones is the company. He monetised his “schtick, his methodology” and could go teach a university course on how to do it.

Mr Pettingill is asked whether Jones could maintain the value of the companies if they were sold with occasional appearances on Infowars. He says only Jones can answer this.

He is also asked whether the loans to Jones would have to be repaid if Free Speech Systems were sold. Mr Pettingill says yes, with interest.

As punitive damages loom, Jones bizarrely calls $4.1m Sandy Hook judgment a ‘victory for truth’

Friday 5 August 2022 16:21 , Oliver O'Connell

After the jury reached a verdict in Alex Jonesdefamation damages trial and ordered him to pay the plaintiffs compensatory damages of $4.1m, the bombastic Infowars host nevertheless declared victory.

Read more:

Alex Jones bizarrely calls $4.1m Sandy Hook judgment a ‘victory for truth’

Friday 5 August 2022 15:58 , Oliver O'Connell

The jury has gone out to write their questions for Mr Pettingill.

Friday 5 August 2022 15:53 , Oliver O'Connell

Attorney Andino Reynal is now cross-examining Mr Pettingill, asking him how much he is being paid to examine Jones’ finances and how many court cases he has worked on before.

He asks Mr Pettingill if Free Speech Systems would be worthless without Jones to which he responds that the company has such a pipeline of products it probably could continue to make money.

Mr Reynal is making the argument that without Jones the company would be just television equipment and supplements and prepper kits with no figurehead to sell them.

An analogy is made that Jones is a “star pitcher” in baseball or a neurosurgeon — he’s a specialist and something could happen to him tomorrow which would destroy his ability to earn.

Friday 5 August 2022 15:43 , Oliver O'Connell

In summary, from 2016 to 2021 the company’s revenue stayed relatively constant bringing in approximately in excess of $50m per year, due to Jones’ “rabid” following.

As an expert witness, Mr Pettingill estimates Free Speech Systems’ minimum net worth is $130m.

In 2021, Jones withdrew $61.9m from the company and Mr Pettingill estimates his personal net worth is between $70m and $140m.

Therefore the total net worth of Free Speech Systems and Alex Jones is in the range of $270m as estimated by Mr Pettingill.

Watch: ‘He can say he’s broke, he has no money but we know that’s not the fact'

Friday 5 August 2022 15:35 , Oliver O'Connell

Friday 5 August 2022 15:34 , Oliver O'Connell

After checking his notes, Mr Pettingill determines that Free Speech Systems’ revenue in 2021 was $64m.

In the 2016-18 period, prior to being “deplatformed” from YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook for hate speech, the company brought in $165m over three years.

So the deplatforming in 2018 had no negative impact on revenue, in that it went up.

Friday 5 August 2022 15:28 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Pettingill is complimentary about Jones calling him a “maverick” and like “Genghis Khan” in how he has built his business empire.

He lists companies within the Jones group as having been set up to benefit him internally. He references Jones Productions, Joens Report LLC, Prison Planet TV LLC, Planet Infowars LLC, Infowars Health, PLJR Holdings, and AEJ Austin Holdings LLC.

Mr Pettingill moves on to discussing shell companies. He talks about loans Jones made from one of his companies to others and says that he doesn’t appear to have paid them. He testifies that the point of these loans is to make Free Speech Systems look like it has a lower net worth than it actually does.

He says that everything flows to Jones and he knows where the money is. “He can say he’s broke, he has no money, but that’s not correct,” Mr Pettingill says.

Friday 5 August 2022 15:19 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Pettingill is in the witness stand and says his role in the case is “to value Alex Jones’ companies and the net worth of Alex Jones.”

He says Jones is the manager or agent for about nine private companies that he could track, meaning companies that are not publicly traded.

Mr Pettingill used a spreadsheet to track Jones’ funds, and from September 2015 to December 2018, this averages to $53.2m a year and could reach $70m. He notes there has been a “nice healthy increase” since 2018, and has been paying himself an annual salary in the range of $6m.

Friday 5 August 2022 15:10 , Oliver O'Connell

Jurors will be asked to assess punitive damages meant specifically to punish Jones for repeatedly portraying the tragedy as a hoax.

Friday 5 August 2022 15:09 , Oliver O'Connell

While Jones may not be testifying today, he is in court.

Judge Maya Guerra Gamble has entered the courtroom and the jury is being brought in.

Today they will hear from Bernard Pettingill, a forensic economist hired by the plaintiffs, to testify as an expert about Jones’ net worth.

Friday 5 August 2022 14:51 , Oliver O'Connell

There is some confusion over the punitive damages cap.

It apparently stands at $750,000 but the jury is not informed of this and so could send a message with a huge award that is then limited by the cap.

Unclear if this is a total cap or per count against Jones.

What about the punitive damages?

Friday 5 August 2022 14:00 , Oliver O'Connell

The jury returns on Friday morning to consider the punitive damages portion of the verdict.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs will call one witness, but Alex Jones will not be returning to the stand.

The jury will then decide punitive damages in addition to today’s $4,110,000 award for actual damages.

There is a cap on what punitive damages can be but it is deemed as a reasonable multiplier, perhaps as high as ten times the compensatory damages. Reporting late on Thursday said it had been capped at double the earlier award.

Here’s Attorney Mark Bankston explaining:

ICYMI: Jones’ attorney mistakenly sent two years of his text messages to Sandy Hook family’s lawyer

Friday 5 August 2022 13:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Alex Jonesattorney accidentally sent two years of his text messages to the lawyer representing the parents of a child killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting, a court has been told.

Mark Bankston, who representing Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis in their ongoing defamation trial against Jones, made the stunning claim during cross-examination of the Infowars founder on Wednesday.

Bevan Hurley reports:

Alex Jones’ attorney mistakenly sent two years of his text messages to rival lawyer

Watch: Lawyer tells Alex Jones to ‘shut his mouth’ at Sandy Hook lawsuit

Friday 5 August 2022 12:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Jones ordered to pay more than $4m compensatory damages

Friday 5 August 2022 11:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been ordered to pay $4.11m in compensatory damages to the family of a Sandy Hook victim.

Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose six-year-old son Jesse was among the 20 students and six adults killed in the mass shooting, sued Jones and his media company for the claims he has made that the massacre was a “false flag” operation and that the victims did not actually exist.

They had asked for $150m in compensatory damages and another trial to determine punitive damages is now expected to take place on Friday.

Graeme Massie explains what happened in court on Thursday.

Alex Jones ordered to pay more than $4m compensatory damages to Sandy Hook family

Watch: Jones claims InfoWars is a Christian ‘self-help’ show

Friday 5 August 2022 10:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Alex Jones pleads for ‘prayers’ on Infowars as his texts set to be handed over to Jan 6 committee

Friday 5 August 2022 09:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Alex Jones pleaded for the prayers of his Infowars audience as he lashed out at his “damn” lawyers for mistakenly handing over a copy of his cellphone data.

The right-wing conspiracy theorist was left stunned as the lawyers for a Sandy Hook family suing him for $150m revealed his own legal team had accidentally sent them the copy during trial earlier this week.

Now, it appears that the January 6 committee will be getting a copy of his text messages and emails as well.

Read the full story here:

Alex Jones pleads for ‘prayers’ on Infowars as his texts will go to Jan 6 committee

Trial shown video of Infowars host belittling jury and accusing judge of ‘rigging’ case

Friday 5 August 2022 08:30 , Oliver O'Connell

The Alex Jones defamation trial was shown a video of the Infowars host belittling the jury in his case and the judge being accused of “rigging” the proceedings.

The lawyer for the parents of a child killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre played the video, which saw Mr Jones say that the jury consisted of people who “don’t know what planet they’re on”.

Graeme Massie reports:

Alex Jones trial shown video of Infowars host belittling jury

Alex Jones ordered to pay more than $4m compensatory damages to Sandy Hook family

Friday 5 August 2022 07:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been ordered to pay $4.11m (£3.38m) in compensatory damages to the family of a Sandy Hook victim.

Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose six-year-old son Jesse was among the 20 students and six adults killed in the mass shooting, sued Jones and his media company for the claims he has made that the massacre was a “false flag” operation and that the victims did not actually exist.

Read the full story here:

Alex Jones ordered to pay more than $4m compensatory damages to Sandy Hook family

Watch: Judge Gamble reads verdict

Friday 5 August 2022 06:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Jones pleads for ‘prayers’ on Infowars as his texts set to be handed over to Jan 6 committee

Friday 5 August 2022 05:01 , Oliver O'Connell

Alex Jones pleaded for the prayers of his Infowars audience as he lashed out at his “damn” lawyers for mistakenly handing over a copy of his cellphone data.

The right-wing conspiracy theorist was left stunned as the lawyers for a Sandy Hook family suing him for $150m revealed his own legal team had accidentally sent them the copy during trial earlier this week.

Now, it appears that the January 6 committee will be getting a copy of his text messages and emails as well.

Alex Jones pleads for ‘prayers’ on Infowars as his texts will go to Jan 6 committee

Recap: Why Alex Jones is being sued by the victims’ families

Friday 5 August 2022 03:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Hours after 26 people were shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, Alex Jones began spouting false claims that the massacre wasn’t real.

More than 10 years later, the far-right conspiracy theorist’s inflammatory comments have continued to haunt him as families of the shooting victims – 20 of which were young children – hold him accountable in court.

Following multiple attempts from the Infowars host to delay and derail justice, his time is finally up.

Why is Alex Jones being sued by families of children killed in Sandy Hook massacre?

Jones loses bid for a mistrial and to destroy texts mistakenly shared with opposing legal team

Friday 5 August 2022 02:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Alex Jones launched a failed bid to destroy text messages mistakenly sent to the lawyers of Sandy Hook families as a jury deliberates on damages owed by the Infowars host for defamation.

Mr Jones’ attorney Andino Reynal filed for an emergency motion for protection on Thursday morning and also requested a mistrial over the texts he sent in error as part of discovery.

Mr Reynal said the texts contained private medical records and communications covered by attorney-client privilege, and accused the plaintiff’s attorney Mark Bankston of looking at files unrelated to the case.

Bevan Hurley reports.

Alex Jones loses mistrial bid after texts mistakenly shared with Sandy Hook lawyers

Jones tried to hawk supplements from stand in $150m defamation trial

Friday 5 August 2022 01:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Alex Jones tried to promote his supplement business while on the stand in his $150m Sandy Hook defamation trial.

The conspiracy theorist boasted about the quality of the vitamins sold on Infowars in an extended rant to the jury.

That jury is responsible for deciding how much Jones must pay in damages to Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, who lost their six-year-old son Jesse Lewis in the 2012 school shooting that claimed the lives of 20 children and six adults.

Alex Jones tried to hawk supplements as he took the stand in $150m defamation trial

‘You think I’m an actress?’: Sandy Hook victim’s mother leads a powerful condemnation of Alex Jones

Friday 5 August 2022 00:45 , Oliver O'Connell

The mother of a six-year-old boy murdered in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting has testified in the Alex Jones defamation case, and spoke directly to the right-wing Infowars host about the devastating impact of his conspiratorial claims.

Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, the parents of Jesse Lewis, are suing Jones and his company Free Speech Media for $150m over the harassment they say they suffered after the 2012 shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

“Jesse was real,” Ms Lewis told Jones as he sat in the courtroom in Travis County, Texas, as she testified on Tuesday. “I am a real mom.”

Graeme Massie reports.

Mother of Sandy Hook victim’s testimony offers powerful condemnation of Alex Jones

Both legal teams claim victory with verdict

Thursday 4 August 2022 23:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Both sides have found a way to claim victory from the jury’s verdict to award the plaintiffs $4.1m in compensatory damages.

“That’s a darn good start and we now have the punishment phase,” said Mark Bankston, an attorney for Sandy Hook parents Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis.

“I think on behalf of the entire legal team today was an absolute vindication for the American legal system. We’re very pleased with the verdict thus far and we look forward to presenting the rest of the case,” said Andino Reynal, the attorney for Alex Jones.

Punitive damages — which could be significantly higher — will be decided tomorrow.

Jones claims taking data from phone violates 4th, 5th and 6th amendments

Thursday 4 August 2022 23:15 , Oliver O'Connell

In an Infowards video released today, Jones claims via a lawyer that the “seizing and stealing” of the data on his phone violates his constitutional rights.

Watch here:

What about the punitive damages?

Thursday 4 August 2022 22:48 , Oliver O'Connell

The jury will return tomorrow morning for the punitive damages portion.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs will call one witness, but Alex Jones will not be returning to the stand.

The jury will then decide punitive damages in addition to today’s $4,110,000 award for actual damages.

There is a cap on what punitive damages can be but it is deemed as a reasonable multiplier, perhaps as high as ten times the compensatory damages.

Here’s Attorney Mark Bankston explaining:

Jones ordered to pay more than $4m compensatory damages to Sandy Hook family

Thursday 4 August 2022 22:41 , Oliver O'Connell

Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been ordered to pay more than $4m in compensatory damages to the family of a Sandy Hook victim.

Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose six-year-old son Jesse was among the 20 students and six adults killed in the mass shooting, sued Jones and his media company for the claims he has made that the massacre was a “false flag” operation and that the victims did not actually exist.

They had asked for $150m in compensatory damages and another trial to determine punitive damages is now expected to take place on Friday.

Graeme Massie reports.

Alex Jones ordered to pay more than $4m compensatory damages to Sandy Hook family

Verdict reached: Jones to pay $4m in compensatory damages

Thursday 4 August 2022 22:29 , Oliver O'Connell

The jury has reached a verdict, but will return at 8.45am tomorrow morning to hear more evidence regarding any punitive damages they may want to impose.

Alex Jones is already guilty, so on the eight counts, the following amounts were awarded to the plaintiffs in damages:

This brings it to a total of more than $4m. Jones had previously claimed that more than $2m would wipe out his business.

Thursday 4 August 2022 22:18 , Oliver O'Connell

Jury returns to the courtroom and is seated.

A verdict has been reached by 10 members of the jury.

Thursday 4 August 2022 22:17 , Oliver O'Connell

The plaintiffs and bother sets of lawyers have come back into the courtroom. Alex Jones is not present.

Judge Maya Guerra Gamble is presiding.

Parents of Sandy Hook victim rip into ‘psychopath’ Alex Jones at trial

Thursday 4 August 2022 21:42 , Oliver O'Connell

The father of a 6-year-old boy murdered in the Sandy Hook school shooting says “pyscopaths like Alex Jones” made it impossible to heal during his testimony at the Infowars founder’s defamation trial on Tuesday.

Neil Heslin labelled Jones as “cowardly” for skipping his testimony and lambasted the talking head for his false claims that the mass shooting, sharing that Jones’ theories left his family living in a constant state of fear.

Mr Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of Jesse Lewis, are suing Jones for $150m for spreading false conspiracy theories about the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, that claimed 26 lives in 2012.

Parents of Sandy Hook victims rip into ‘psychopath’ Alex Jones at trial

Alex Jones’ conspiracy theories created ‘living hell’ for parents of Sandy Hook victim

Thursday 4 August 2022 20:29 , Oliver O'Connell

The parents of a 6-year-old killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting described being put through a “living hell” of death threats, harassment and ongoing trauma over the past decade as they confronted conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who has used his media platforms to push claims that it was all a hoax.

Sandy Hook parents: Alex Jones claims created 'living hell'

Jones pleads for ‘prayers’ on Infowars as his texts set to be handed over to Jan 6 probe

Thursday 4 August 2022 19:37 , Oliver O'Connell

Alex Jones pleaded for the prayers of his Infowars audience as he lashed out at his “damn” lawyers for mistakenly handing over a copy of his cellphone data.

The right-wing conspiracy theorist was left stunned as the lawyers for a Sandy Hook family suing him for $150m revealed his own legal team had accidentally sent them the copy during trial earlier this week.

Now, it appears that the January 6 committee will be getting a copy of his text messages and emails as well.

Graeme Massie reports.

Alex Jones pleads for ‘prayers’ on Infowars as his texts will go to Jan 6 committee

What is on Jones’ phone?

Thursday 4 August 2022 18:58 , Oliver O'Connell

Jim Vertuno of the Associated Press tweets that outside the courthouse, Attorney Mark Bankston said he’s not familiar with everything in the material from Alex Jones’ phone because it was so much that he didn’t have enough time to review it all over the last two days.

He is also unaware whether there is material specific to what the January 6 committee might be looking for. Mr Bankston said that while there is no subpoena from the committee, just a request for the data, he agreed to cooperate.

“We don’t know the full scope and breadth,” of the material, Mr Bankston said. “We certainly saw text messages from as far back as 2019 ... In terms of what all is on that phone, it’s going to take a little while to figure that out.”

Jones loses bid to destroy texts

Thursday 4 August 2022 18:42 , Oliver O'Connell

Alex Jones launched a failed bid to destroy text messages mistakenly sent to the lawyers of Sandy Hook families as a jury deliberates on damages owed by the Infowars host for defamation.

Mr Jones’ attorney Andino Reynal filed for an emergency motion for protection on Thursday morning and also requested a mistrial over the texts he sent in error as part of discovery.

Mr Reynal said the texts contained private medical records and communications covered by attorney-client privilege and accused the plaintiff’s attorney Mark Bankston of looking at files unrelated to the case.

Bevan Hurley reports.

Alex Jones loses bid to destroy texts mistakenly sent to Sandy Hook lawyers

Thursday 4 August 2022 17:50 , Oliver O'Connell

Judge Maya Guerra Gamble calls lunch, so there will be no news from the court until 2pm ET.

Thursday 4 August 2022 17:44 , Oliver O'Connell

Unsurprisingly, Jones is asking viewers to visit the online store and spend their money and describes Infowars as “insolvent”.

He calls this fundraising drive “Operation David” mentioning King David and fighting Goliath in more Biblical references.

The true financial status of Infowars and its founder will be explored in bankruptcy court.

Jones back on air on Infowars

Thursday 4 August 2022 17:38 , Oliver O'Connell

Alex Jones is back on Infowars and ranting about the trial.

He claims his cell number and home address are circulating. “This is all part of my persecution” Jones says and calls it a “test” from god in which he is going into the “middle of the enemy hyenas as they tear me to pieces.

“I told you ten years ago and twenty years ago I would be destroyed,” he says, adding: “My destruction will be spectacular and it will be a light to others.”

“God showed me the path forward,” Jones says in a biblically tinged complaint.

 (Infowars)
(Infowars)

Meanwhile, jury deliberations continue...

Thursday 4 August 2022 16:57 , Oliver O'Connell

The jury continues to deliberate and there is no word on how long they will take.

It is worth remembering that they are considering compensatory damages — i.e. what do the plaintiffs deserve given what Jones has put them through since the murder of their son.

The figure they come up with will have nothing to do with what Jones can afford to pay, hence the $150m figure attached to the case against him.

Once they have agreed as a jury on that, there will be a short hearing for punitive damages which will be added to get to an overall total.

Plaintiff’s lawyer intends to turn over Jones’ phone data to Jan 6 committee ‘immediately'

Thursday 4 August 2022 16:26 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Bankston wants to turn over documents to law enforcement “immediately”. Clearly, Mr Reynal doesn’t want him to do that and one can only imagine how Jones will feel about that.

Judge Gamble asks to whom and Mr Bankston confirms it is the House select committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.

She replies she’s not even sure he could say no to the committee.

Jones testified before the committee earlier this year and when investigators discovered the existence of the phone data, immediately sought access to it.

Jan 6 committee to subpoena Alex Jones’ texts and emails obtained in Sandy Hook trial

Thursday 4 August 2022 16:16 , Oliver O'Connell

Highlight the wider implications of the contents of the phone, Mr Bankston says: “Mr Jones and his intimate message with Roger Stone are not protected ... I am under request from various federal agencies and law enforcement” for the 2.3 gigabytes of material from the phone.

He says he intends to honour those requests immediately.

Judge Gamble tells Mr Reynal: “I don’t think you have complied with the protection order. Ill let you do so now if there are documents you’d like to mark as confidential.”

She will then review them and make a decision but won’t seal the entire phone. She does order the medical records to be deleted by the plaintiffs’ lawyers, which they say they have already done.

Judge Gamble adds that the phone data should have been disclosed “a year or so ago or longer and then there would have been plenty of time” for review.

She denies the move for a mistrial.

Thursday 4 August 2022 16:08 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Bankston argues that by Mr Reynal’s own description of events he made a willful failure of discovery and didn’t turn over requested records until after the case went to trial.

Of the medical records that Mr Reynal said were on the phone from a separate case, Mr Bankston argues that’s a significant data breach on the part of the defence team because Mr Reynal is not on that case.

Thursday 4 August 2022 16:01 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Reynal accuses Mr Bankston of wanting a mistrial and requests one.

Thursday 4 August 2022 15:56 , Oliver O'Connell

Plaintiff lawyer Mark Bankston responds to the request: “Mr Reynal is using it as a fig leaf for his own malpractice.”

He argues that saying “please disregard” is not a legal establishment to return and destroy records when they have been sent over as part of a formal legal request.

Here is video of Mr Reynal’s argument:

Lawyers in court for emergency motion

Thursday 4 August 2022 15:51 , Oliver O'Connell

Judge Gamble has returned to the bench as the defence team has filed an emergency motion for protection.

Cathy Russon of Law & Crime reports that it is regarding attorney Andino Reynal accidentally sending the copy of his client’s phone to the plaintiff’s team.

Mr Reynal wants the records returned, copies destroyed, and requests a mistrial

Deliberations continue

Thursday 4 August 2022 15:46 , Oliver O'Connell

Jim Vertuno of the Associated Press reports from the courthouse in Austin that the lawyers in the case will be given a ten-minute warning when the jury reaches a decision on how much Jones will pay in damages to the plaintiffs.

‘He started turning into every emoji’

Thursday 4 August 2022 15:41 , Oliver O'Connell

The Daily Show on Wednesday night had its own take on the moment Alex Jones was informed that his lawyer had mistakenly given a copy of his entire phone to the opposing legal team.

Host Trevor Noah clearly enjoyed playing the clip of the moment from yesterday’s court proceedings, focussing on Jones’ multitude of expressions and apparent discomfort realising he had been caught lying under oath.

“Oh, s*** that was funny!” said Noah after the footage played the footage. “I like how he was so shocked he started turning into every emoji.”

Commenting on the moment Jones coughed loudly — as he did throughout his time in court — Noah said: “At one point, he even tried to give himself Covid.”

He then impersonated Jones, saying: “You know that disease I said is fake? Yeah, I got it now!”

Watch the clip below via YouTube:

Voices: Alex Jones got his comeuppance at the Sandy Hook trial – at last

Thursday 4 August 2022 15:06 , Megan Sheets

In a new Voices piece, The Independent’s Ryan Coogan writes: There is little in this world more gratifying than seeing a bad man get his comeuppance. The pleasure of seeing somebody brought low after repeatedly “getting away with murder” is better for the human body and soul than vegetables and religion. But for the past few years, consequences haven’t really felt like they’ve been on the cards for a lot of prominent people. Bad men don’t really get their comeuppance anymore. They get book deals, or a TV show, or elected prime minister. Bad men get rich.

Unless your name is Alex Jones, that is, in which case bad men get humiliated over and over again in an extremely public forum, and then get taken to the cleaners by the vulnerable people they used to make a name for themselves.

Read more:

Opinion: Alex Jones got his comeuppance at the Sandy Hook libel trial – at last

Jury to return for deliberation

Thursday 4 August 2022 14:20 , Megan Sheets

Jurors are set to return to the Travis County courthouse between 8.30 and 9am CT on Thursday to resume deliberations.

The 12-person panel was sent out just after 4.30pm on Wednesday, spending only around 20 minutes in the deliberation room before they adjourned for the day.

Dan Soloman of Texas Monthly explained what happens next in a Twitter thread, noting that the jurors will only be determining compensatory damages - with punitive damages to come later.