Berliner Boersenzeitung - Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay $4.1 mn in Sandy Hook damages

EUR -
AED 4.299618
AFN 80.772999
ALL 98.102368
AMD 448.468011
ANG 2.09515
AOA 1073.456153
ARS 1518.918349
AUD 1.799594
AWG 2.107988
AZN 1.994696
BAM 1.958505
BBD 2.362764
BDT 142.176383
BGN 1.95664
BHD 0.441076
BIF 3465.026106
BMD 1.170617
BND 1.500372
BOB 8.086065
BRL 6.322024
BSD 1.170216
BTN 102.343363
BWP 15.660631
BYN 3.903892
BYR 22944.091786
BZD 2.350517
CAD 1.617969
CDF 3388.93643
CHF 0.944455
CLF 0.028741
CLP 1127.50357
CNY 8.407493
CNH 8.415453
COP 4701.197582
CRC 591.316763
CUC 1.170617
CUP 31.021349
CVE 111.096105
CZK 24.471049
DJF 208.042501
DKK 7.464732
DOP 72.256377
DZD 151.712154
EGP 56.499883
ERN 17.559254
ETB 165.233038
FJD 2.6408
FKP 0.865138
GBP 0.863478
GEL 3.149417
GGP 0.865138
GHS 12.467527
GIP 0.865138
GMD 84.874235
GNF 10158.032896
GTQ 8.975397
GYD 244.724893
HKD 9.160956
HNL 30.90878
HRK 7.535734
HTG 153.121501
HUF 395.438883
IDR 18967.506082
ILS 3.953249
IMP 0.865138
INR 102.445195
IQD 1533.508175
IRR 49297.609841
ISK 143.260551
JEP 0.865138
JMD 187.248639
JOD 0.830014
JPY 172.227062
KES 151.599342
KGS 102.287107
KHR 4688.321206
KMF 492.248859
KPW 1053.504596
KRW 1625.952243
KWD 0.357565
KYD 0.975147
KZT 633.885562
LAK 25288.256608
LBP 104414.323965
LKR 352.226517
LRD 235.883727
LSL 20.591598
LTL 3.456528
LVL 0.708095
LYD 6.338936
MAD 10.546678
MDL 19.512952
MGA 5197.539565
MKD 61.615107
MMK 2457.143761
MNT 4201.783954
MOP 9.430426
MRU 46.76659
MUR 53.357163
MVR 18.03965
MWK 2031.020774
MXN 21.940932
MYR 4.931855
MZN 74.806787
NAD 20.591593
NGN 1794.228419
NIO 43.032319
NOK 11.940106
NPR 163.74918
NZD 1.976742
OMR 0.449849
PAB 1.170201
PEN 4.167835
PGK 4.846793
PHP 66.201944
PKR 330.172943
PLN 4.259967
PYG 8569.837184
QAR 4.261753
RON 5.063859
RSD 117.322785
RUB 93.766881
RWF 1691.541461
SAR 4.392451
SBD 9.626888
SCR 16.558907
SDG 702.959768
SEK 11.185561
SGD 1.499214
SHP 0.919921
SLE 27.279667
SLL 24547.249292
SOS 669.011861
SRD 43.968805
STD 24229.40694
STN 24.934141
SVC 10.239143
SYP 15219.49433
SZL 20.591584
THB 37.975245
TJS 10.912033
TMT 4.108865
TND 3.376352
TOP 2.741706
TRY 47.846655
TTD 7.939865
TWD 35.156557
TZS 3058.240971
UAH 48.298012
UGX 4165.753995
USD 1.170617
UYU 46.814663
UZS 14691.242835
VES 158.583885
VND 30752.106694
VUV 139.711062
WST 3.103398
XAF 656.855873
XAG 0.030814
XAU 0.000351
XCD 3.163651
XCG 2.109013
XDR 0.822168
XOF 656.716485
XPF 119.331742
YER 281.270026
ZAR 20.597298
ZMK 10536.961287
ZMW 27.119111
ZWL 376.938173
  • CMSC

    0.0300

    23.12

    +0.13%

  • BCC

    -0.6300

    85.99

    -0.73%

  • SCS

    -0.0500

    16.15

    -0.31%

  • NGG

    -0.1300

    71.43

    -0.18%

  • RIO

    0.2000

    61.24

    +0.33%

  • GSK

    0.5581

    39.36

    +1.42%

  • BTI

    -0.2700

    57.15

    -0.47%

  • CMSD

    0.0505

    23.34

    +0.22%

  • AZN

    0.7000

    79.17

    +0.88%

  • JRI

    0.0835

    13.36

    +0.62%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    73.08

    0%

  • BCE

    0.2400

    25.61

    +0.94%

  • RYCEF

    -0.3500

    14.6

    -2.4%

  • BP

    0.1892

    34.33

    +0.55%

  • VOD

    0.0300

    11.67

    +0.26%

  • RELX

    0.2700

    47.96

    +0.56%

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay $4.1 mn in Sandy Hook damages
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay $4.1 mn in Sandy Hook damages / Photo: SERGIO FLORES - GETTY IMAGES/AFP/File

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay $4.1 mn in Sandy Hook damages

A Texas jury on Thursday ordered far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay more than $4 million in damages to the parents of a child who was killed in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Text size:

The jury deliberated for one day before deciding on the amount of compensatory damages Jones should pay for falsely claiming that the Sandy Hook shooting was a "hoax."

Jones claimed for years on his website InfoWars and popular radio show that the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, which left 20 children dead, was "staged" by gun control activists, but has since acknowledged it was "100 percent real."

The 48-year-old Jones has been found liable in multiple defamation lawsuits brought by parents of the Sandy Hook victims, and the Texas case was the first to reach the damages phase.

After deciding on $4.1 million in compensatory damages for causing emotional distress, the Austin, Texas, jury will now hear evidence on whether punitive damages are warranted.

The $4.1 million is far less than the $150 million in compensatory damages sought by the plaintiffs in the Texas case, Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of six-year-old son Jesse.

Earlier Thursday, the judge in the case denied Jones' request for a mistrial after his lawyers mistakenly turned over the conspiracy theorist's cellphone records to the opposing attorneys.

"I don't think it's a mistrial based on this," Judge Maya Guerra Gamble told an emergency hearing called to discuss the inadvertent release of the material by Jones' lawyers.

During the final day of testimony on Wednesday, Mark Bankston, a lawyer for the parents, told Jones while he was on the witness stand that his attorneys had "messed up."

"They sent me an entire digital copy of your entire cellphone with every text message you've sent for the past two years, and when informed did not take any steps to identify it as privileged or protected in any way," Bankston said.

- 'Do you know what perjury is?' -

Bankston noted that Jones had repeatedly said under oath that a search of his cellphone had not produced any text messages about Sandy Hook, but there were indeed such messages in the records he accidentally received.

"Do you know what perjury is?" Bankston asked Jones.

Arguing for a mistrial, F. Andino Reynal, a lawyer for Jones, said he had followed up the mistaken release of the records with an email saying "Please disregard."

"'Please disregard' creates no legal duty on me whatsoever," Bankston countered. "None."

Bankston said "various federal agencies" had asked for the phone records along with the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by supporters of former president Donald Trump.

Trump appeared frequently on Jones' radio show during his 2016 White House campaign and the InfoWars founder was in Washington when supporters of the then-president stormed Congress in a bid to prevent certification of Democrat Joe Biden's election victory.

Jones has also testified to the committee behind closed doors.

InfoWars declared bankruptcy in April and another company owned by Jones, Free Speech Systems, filed for bankruptcy last week.

(O.Joost--BBZ)