A Texas court ordered far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay up after denying his motion to decrease a nearly $50 million defamation sentence against him for his false claims that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy never occurred.
Judge Maya Guerra Gamble rejected Jones’ attorney’s claim that the August decision awarding $49.3 million in damages to the parents of one of the victims violated a state statute capping some types of damages.
The jury in Austin voted in favor of plaintiffs Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, whose 6-year-old son was among the 20 first-graders who were slain at the school.
The parents said that the Infowar host’s false allegation that the killing was a government-created fake intended to promote support for gun control caused his followers to harass them for years.
The attorneys for Jones requested that the judge reduce the damages by more than $40 million, citing a state statute that limits non-economic punitive damages.
The attorney for Alex Jones stated that he intends to appeal the judge’s ruling.
However, Lewis and Heslin’s attorneys successfully claimed that the cap did not apply since the legislation clearly excludes situations of willful maltreatment of a handicapped person from the cap. According to them, the anguish the parents endured after their son’s gruesome murder qualified as a handicap.
Mark Bankston, the attorney representing Heslin and Lewis, stated following the hearing, “Our clients are thrilled that the jury’s conviction was upheld in its entirety, and my surviving clients look forward to concluding this horrific chapter of American history by continuing to hold Mr. Jones responsible.”
Jones’ attorney stated he intends to appeal.
Jones must pay more than the almost $50 million judgement to the families of Sandy Hook victims.
In October, a jury in a separate trial in Connecticut sentenced the conspiracist and his organization, Free Speech Systems LLC, to pay over $1 billion in damages to over a dozen families of victims.
Earlier this month, the court in that case slapped Jones with an extra $473 million in punitive penalties for his “cruel” behavior.
In March, he will face a another defamation trial brought by Sandy Hook parents in Austin.
Having Post wiring.