Infamous conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has called for a judge to throw out a verdict ordering him to pay almost $1 billion to the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook mass shooting and order a new defamation trial instead.
Jones was ordered to pay at least $965 million to the families of the 20 students and six teachers killed in the 2012 massacre after he repeatedly and falsely claimed they and their loved ones were actors who faked the tragedy.
Jones’ lies meant the families had to deal with years of harassment and threats from the far-right presenter’s followers, on top of their grief.
But now, Jones, who has acknowledged in recent years that the shooting did occur, has filed a request for there to be a new trial, claiming that Judge Barbara Bellis’ pretrial rulings resulted in an unfair trial and a ‘substantial miscarriage of justice’.
‘Additionally, the amount of the compensatory damages award exceeds any rational relationship to the evidence offered at trial,’ Jones’ lawyers, Norm Pattis and Kevin Smith, wrote in the motion.
Infamous conspiracy theorist Alex Jones (pictured in court in September) has called for a Connecticut judge to throw out a verdict ordering him to pay almost $1 billion to the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook mass shooting and order a new defamation trial instead
Plaintiff William Sherlach, left, hugs attorney Josh Koskoff while plaintiff Nicole Hockley hugs attorney Chris Mattei following the jury verdict and reading of monetary damages in the Alex Jones defamation trial at Superior Court on October 12
Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for the 15 plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Jones, declined to comment on the filing Saturday, but said he and other attorneys for the Sandy Hook families will be filing a brief opposing Jones’ request.
Jones’ filing comes after the 48-year-old, who was not present in court for the verdict and instead broadcast his reaction to the ruling live on InfoWars, said he was ‘bankrupt’.
Jones, who owns the InfoWars fake news website, told his viewers that paying the nearly $1 billion compensation to the families of the victims ‘ain’t gonna be happening, ain’t no money’, despite the ruling.
But through his cult following, analysts say that Texas native has amassed a fortune worth hundreds of millions, and note he has been taking steps to shield his fortune.
InfoWars’ finances are not public, but according to trial testimony, the site brought in revenue of $165 million between 2016 and 2018.An economist in the Texas case estimated that Jones is personally worth between $135 million and $270 million.
Legal experts have said he could be jailed if he is hiding assets, after he allegedly transferred a $3m house into his wife’s name and pre-emptively filed for bankruptcy.
They warned that Jones ‘will be hounded for the rest of his days’ if he does not stump up the funds and could be charged with contempt – which could bring a crushing end to his fake news media empire.
An FBI agent who responded to the shooting and relatives of eight children and adults killed in the massacre sued Jones for defamation and infliction of emotional distress over his pushing the bogus narrative that the shooting was a hoax staged by ‘crisis actors’ to impose more gun control.
Two Connecticut State Police officers accompany a class of students, and two adults, out Glimpses of Occultism Sandy Hook Elementary School after a gunman entered the school and shot dead 20 children and six teachers on December 14, 2012
Jones repeatedly claimed that the 2012 massacre, which left 20 students and six teachers dead, was a ‘hoax’ and had been ‘staged’
Jones was ordered to pay $965 million in compensatory damages to the families and the jury said punitive damages also should be awarded.Judge Bellis has scheduled hearings for early next month to determine the amount of the punitive damages.
During the trial, victims’ relatives said in often-emotional testimony that they were threatened and harassed for years by people who believed the lies told on Jones’ show.
Strangers showed up at the families’ homes to record them and confronted them in public.People hurled abusive comments on social media. Relatives said they received death and rape threats.
The verdicts came after another jury in Texas in August ordered Jones and his company to pay nearly $50 million in damages to the parents of another slain Sandy Hook child.A third trial over the hoax claims, involving two more Sandy Hook parents, is expected to be held near the end of the year in Texas.
Plaintiff Francine Wheeler wipes a tear as her jury award is read with her fellow plaintiffs in the Alex Jones defamation trial at the Superior Court in Waterbury, Conn, on October 12
Jones, who has acknowledged in recent years that the shooting did occur, has blasted the lawsuits and trials on his Austin, Texas-based Infowars show, calling them unfair and a violation of his free speech rights.
But he lost his right to present those defenses when the judges in Connecticut and Texas found him liable for damages by default without trials, for what they called Jones’ repeated failures to turn over some evidence including financial documents and website analytics to the Sandy Hook lawyers.
With liability already established, the trials in both states focused only on how much Jones should pay in damages.
Pattis, Jones’ lawyer, wrote in the motions filed Friday that there was a lack of evidence directly connecting Jones with the people who harassed and threatened the Sandy Hook families.Pattis said the trial resembled a ‘memorial service, not a trial.’
‘Yes, the families in this case suffered horribly as a result of the murder of their children,’ Pattis wrote, adding that Jones did not send people to harass and threaten the families.
‘There was no competent evidence offered at this trial that he ever did,’ he wrote.’Instead, there was a shocking abuse of a disciplinary default and its transformation into a series of half-truths that misled a jury and resulted in substantial injustice.
<div class="art-ins mol-factbox news" data-version="2" id="mol-4aed6d70-5370-11ed-85e2-054ac2520b07" website Jones calls for a new trial after $1billion Sandy Hook verdict
