The conspiracy theorist did not turn up to hear the verdict.
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been ordered to pay $965 million to the families of eight Sandy Hook victims, plus an FBI agent who responded to the attack. The planitiffs alleged that the misinformation spread by Jones led to a decade of harassment and death threats from those who believed him, aggravating the emotional agony the deaths of their loved ones had wrought.
Jones’s lies about the 2012 massacre that claimed the lives of 20 children and six adults included that families and first responders were “crisis actors,” and that the whole tragedy had been staged. He conceded during another defamation trial in August that the attack was “100% real.”
The three-week trial involved a great deal of emotional testimony from the families of the victims. One father, Mark Barden, described being told that people were desecrating his son Daniel’s grave by “urinating on it and threatening to dig it up.”
Christopher Mattei, an attorney for the plaintiffs, had pushed jurors to award at least half a billion dollars to symbolize the 550 million impressions Jones’s lie allegedly garnered online.
“You may say that is astronomical. It is,” Mattei said per CNN. “It’s exactly what Alex Jones set himself up to do. That’s what he built. He built a lie machine that could push this stuff out. You reap what you sow.”
After the verdict was read, Mattei told reporters outside: “The jury’s verdict is a testament to that courage, in a resounding affirmation that people of goodwill, dedicated to the truth, mindful of their responsibilities to their fellow citizens can come together to protect the innocent, to reveal lies masquerading as truth, and to set right a historic wrong.”
Jones live-streamed himself reacting to the decision on his Infowars show, and used the moment to solicit donations from his following.
“The money does not go to these people,” he said, claiming this was impossible since he’d filed for bankruptcy. “It goes to fight this fraud and it goes to stabilize the company.”
Jones mocked the weeping families while their settlements were awarded, shouting “$50 million! $80 million! Blah, Blah. You get a million! You get a $100 million! You get $50 million!”
He said that as it stands, there “ain’t no money” to pay the massive damages sum. His attorney, Norm Pattis has said that they will appeal the decision.
“Candidly, from start to finish, the fix was in in this case,” he told reporters outside the court.
