A Texas jury has ordered conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay an extra $US45.2 million ($65.4 million) in punitive damages to the parents of a six-year-old boy who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.
Key points:
- Jones must pay $US49.3 million to the parents of six-year-old Jesse Lewis
- Punitive damages are to punish defendants for egregious conduct, and are seen as a chance for jurors to send a wider societal message
- The couple had sought at least $US150 million for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress
The jury had already ordered Jones to pay $US 4.1 million.
The combined total of $US49.3 million ($71.3 million) is considerably less than the $US150 million sought by Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose son Jesse Lewis was among 19 children and six educators killed in the deadliest classroom shooting in US history.
The trial is the first time Jones has been held financially liable for peddling lies about the 2012 attack in Newtown, Connecticut.
Jurors at first awarded Mr Heslin and Ms Lewis $US4.1 million in compensatory damages, which Jones called a major victory.
But in the final phase of the two-week trial, the same Austin jury came back and tacked on an additional $US45.2 million in punitive damages.
Alex Jones speaks at a pro-Trump protest against the 2020 presidential election. (Reuters: Jim Urquhart)
Punitive damages are meant to punish defendants for particularly egregious conduct, beyond monetary compensation awarded to the individuals they hurt.
A high punitive award is also seen as a chance for jurors to send a wider societal message and a way to deter others from the same conduct.
Attorneys for the family had urged jurors to hand down a financial punishment that would put InfoWars out of business.
“You have the ability to stop this man from ever doing it again,” Wesley Ball, an attorney for the parents, told the jury.
It's unclear how much money Jones and InfoWars' parent company, Free Speech Systems, have.
Forensic economist Bernard Pettingill testified that Jones “promulgated some hate speech and some misinformation” and “made a lot of money”.
Jones and Infowars were worth between $US135 million and $US270 million combined, Mr Pettingill said.
But Jones testified that any award of more than $US2 million would “sink us”.
Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy protection during the trial's first week.
Jones still faces two other defamation lawsuits from Sandy Hook families in Texas and Connecticut.
AP
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