Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who claimed the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax, has been ordered to pay $4.1 million in damages. That reports BBC News.
The victims’ parents had demanded at least $150 million in the lawsuit. They said they had to endure bullying and emotional stress because of Jones’ misinformation.
In 2012, 20 children and six adults were shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. Jones claimed several times that the shooting was a hoax organized by the government to deprive Americans of gun ownership. The parents of the deceased children are said to be actors.
Lawyers for the two parents who filed the lawsuit, Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, revealed before the jury’s decision that Jones’ attorney had accidentally sent two years’ worth of text messages from his client’s phone.
This was the first case in which damage was determined by a jury. Jones previously lost a number of defamation cases filed by the victims’ parents after failing to provide documents and testimony.