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The jury will decide on Wednesday afternoon Infowars Founder Alex Jones He will have to pay $965 million for spouting lies about the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting that was a hoax and that his grieving parents were paid actors.
The money goes directly to the pockets of the families who lost their children in the massacre and to the FBI agents who were harassed by Jones’ audience.
However, in a livestream aired as the jury verdict was read out, Jones showed no remorse, instead mocking the jury and Sandy Hook’s parents, who cried as the damages were read out.
“$57 million, $20 million, $50 million, $80 million, $100 million, blah, blah,” Jones said. NBC News Reporter Brandi Zadrozny. “$1 million, $100 million, $50 million… do these people really think they are getting this money?”
Mr. Jones has refused to hand over the financial data of the business before or during the trial, and at the same time filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors against Infowars and its parent company Free Speech Systems earlier this year. Around the same time he reportedly transferred part of the ownership of the property to his wifeAt the Texas trial, he said damages in excess of $2 million would ruin InfoWars, Forensic economist put his firm’s value $135 million to $270 million.
Despite appearing to be on the brink of bankruptcy, Jones said Wednesday that he wouldn’t stop spreading insane conspiracies about the mass shooting.
“They’re trying to scare us away from questioning Uvalde and Parkland.” He said“We’re not going away. We’re not going to stop.”
Jones’ chaotic trial Held in Waterbury, Connecticut. Jury deliberations began Oct. 6. On Wednesday, only compensatory damages owed Jones will be determined, and a jury will later decide whether Jones must also pay punitive damages.
Of 15 plaintiffs, Robbie Parker, whose 6-year-old daughter was killed in Sandy Hook, received the top $120 million in personal damages on Wednesday. FBI agent William Aldenburg received the second highest payout at $90 million.
Nicole and Ian Hockley, who received $73.6 million and $81.6 million respectively, were awarded the highest total payouts ever produced by a single victim. Their six-year-old son, Dylan, shot in the arm Anne-Marie Murphy is his school aide who assisted him with his special needs. Murphy was also killed.
During the trial, Jones struggled to keep his cool while on the witness stand, and at one point even blurted out that he was sorry and ended.
“Is this a fighting session? Are we in China?” “I’ve already said sorry hundreds of times, but I’m done.”
Judge Barbara Bellis had already ruled against the conspiracy theorists when they refused to produce key evidence, so the jury was not tasked with deciding the defamation case. , was tasked with determining how much Jones owed victims in damages. Jones is now being sought for just over $1 billion in total Another Texas jury decided in August He has to pay nearly $50 million in damages to the parents of one of the children killed in the shooting.
Alex Jones stops testifying to sober up after disastrous court day
The family who sued Jones in Connecticut said they were harassed by strangers inspired by his Infowars webcast. One claimed that only Jones was convinced it was a massive fraud ordered by the Democrats to build support for gun control.
The harassment added insult to the grieving family’s injuries, they claimed.
Among those who testified against Jones was Mark Baden, whose son Daniel was killed in the shooting. said Wakko began flooding his personal website with hateful comments. washington post report.
The harassers quickly took their hatred to another level and threatened to dig up his son’s grave.
“I hear people are blaspheming it, pissing on it and threatening to dig it up,” Baden said of his son’s grave. “I don’t know what it feels like or how to describe it. But that’s where we stand.”
Barden was awarded $57.6 million by a jury on Wednesday.
Other plaintiffs said Jones was forced to move multiple times to escape the hatred caused by the lies he regularly repeated on The Daily Show.
Mattei said Jones built a “lying machine” for profit at the expense of his grieving parents.
“He knew his army was after them,” he said. said on thursday“Each one of these families was drowning in grief and Alex Jones stepped onto them.”
under connecticut lawa jury in a damages trial hears evidence about the extent of the harm (in this case, Jones’ inflicted “pain and suffering”) and agrees on what fair compensation would look like for the victim. I am tasked with reaching
In Thursday’s closing arguments, Mattei focused on the profits Jones made while spreading lies. As his viewership surged, so did sales of products such as nutritional supplements and survival gear, Mattei said.
Jones and his attorney countered that he should not be held responsible for what his supporters do, and have since vowed to continue fighting against paying the plaintiffs.
Mattei said on Wednesday that he expected this and planned to demand full payment from each victim, no matter how long it took.
“We intend to enforce this verdict as long as it lasts because that is what justice requires,” he said. new york times.
See The Daily Beast for more information.
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