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Tyler Sizemore

Alex Jones ordered to pay almost $1 billion to families of Sandy Hook victims

Jones pushed the lie that the 2012 massacre never happened, and that the grieving families were actors

THE CONSPIRACY THEORIST Alex Jones should pay $965 million (€994 million) to people who suffered from his false claim that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax, a jury in the US decided today.

The verdict is the second big judgment against the Infowars host over his relentless promotion of the lie that the 2012 massacre never happened, and that the grieving families seen in news coverage were actors hired as part of a plot to take away people’s guns.

It came in a claim filed by the relatives of five children and three teachers killed in the mass shooting, plus an FBI agent who was among the first emergency services at the scene.

A Texas jury in August awarded nearly $50 million (€52 million) to the parents of another murdered child.

newtown-shooting-infowars Jacqueline Barden pauses as she testifies during the Alex Jones Sandy Hook defamation damages trial at Connecticut Superior Christian Abraham Christian Abraham

The Connecticut trial featured tearful testimony from parents and siblings of the victims, who described how they were threatened and harassed for years by people who believed the lies told on Jones’ show.

Strangers showed up at their homes to record them. People hurled abusive comments on social media.

Erica Lafferty, the daughter of murdered Sandy Hook head teacher Dawn Hochsprung, testified that people posted rape threats to her house.

Mark Barden said conspiracy theorists had urinated on the grave of his seven-year-old son, Daniel, and threatened to dig up the coffin.

Testifying during the trial, Jones acknowledged he had been wrong about Sandy Hook. The shooting was real, he said. But both in the courtroom and on his show, he was defiant.

He called the proceedings a “kangaroo court,” mocked the judge, called the plaintiffs’ lawyer an ambulance-chaser and called the case an affront to free speech rights.

newtown-shooting-infowars Sandy Hook families attorney Chris Mattei, points to a photo that claims victims of the school shooting were all alive Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media via AP Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media via AP / Hearst Connecticut Media via AP

He claimed it was a conspiracy by Democrats and the media to silence him and put him out of business.

“I’ve already said I’m sorry hundreds of times and I’m done saying I’m sorry,” he said during his evidence.

Twenty children and six adults died in the shooting on 14 December 2012.

The defamation trial was held in Waterbury, about 20 miles from Newtown, where the attack took place.

The case accused Jones and Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, of using the mass killing to build his audience and make millions of dollars.

Experts gave evidence that Jones’ audience swelled when he made Sandy Hook a topic on the show, as did his revenue from product sales.

embedded269145040 An Alex Jones Infowars video is played in court (H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media/Pool/AP (H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media/Pool/AP / Hearst Connecticut Media/Pool/AP

In both the Texas case and the one in Connecticut, judges found the company liable for damages by default after Jones failed to co-operate with court rules on sharing evidence, including failing to turn over records that might have showed whether Infowars had profited from knowingly spreading misinformation about mass killings.

Because he was already found liable, Jones was barred from mentioning free speech rights and other topics during his evidence.

Jones now faces a third trial, in Texas, at the end of the year, in a claim filed by the parents of another child killed in the shooting.

It is unclear how much Jones can afford to pay.

During the trial in Texas he said he could not afford any judgment over two million dollars.

Free Speech Systems has filed for bankruptcy protection.

But an economist gave evidence in the Texas proceeding that Jones and his company were worth as much as $270 million (€278 million).

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53 Comments
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    Mute Welk wrangler
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:21 PM

    Dublin Bay, like swimming in a septic tank.

    221
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    Mute Paul Gorry
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    Jul 20th 2021, 10:20 PM

    @Welk wrangler: whaa?ye can swim in a septic tank?

    29
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    Mute David Clements
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    Jul 20th 2021, 10:25 PM

    @Welk wrangler: it’s not in Dublin bay.

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    Mute Ronan Duffy
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    Jul 21st 2021, 12:05 AM

    @Welk wrangler: As kids, we used to describe swimming in Dublin Bay as going through the motions

    25
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    Mute gofreak
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:56 PM

    There’s been, on and off, a noticeable smell of beachy sewerage wafting in over the city from the bay in last few days and nights. I wonder if ringsend has been overflowing again? You would think with greens in government they might do something to accelerate the works necessary to clean up and keep the bay clean.

    122
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    Mute John Buckley
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    Jul 20th 2021, 10:49 PM

    @gofreak: IW are in the planning system for a new treatment plant for years but people keep objecting to the planning and then bringing it through the legal system. This is not the Greens that are objecting so how do you see that they are to blame.

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    Mute gofreak
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    Jul 20th 2021, 11:00 PM

    @John Buckley: it’s merely an expression of exasperation. That what hope is there, when even with greens at the height of power we can’t have a clean bay. Re. planning issues, when it comes to the city literally stinking of shit, you’d think there could be an emergency mechanism to approve of the works needed at ringsend. It’ll become a matter of public health if it continues to unaddressed.

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    Mute Alan Plunkett
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    Jul 20th 2021, 11:14 PM

    @John Buckley: woll u go and ask my bollix u tool

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    Mute Uncle Montys oaf
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    Jul 20th 2021, 8:39 PM

    Uh-oh, covid 21 on the way !

    52
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    Mute Tommy Berry
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    Jul 20th 2021, 8:47 PM

    @Uncle Montys oaf: You don’t really understand medicine, do you?

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    Mute Gerard Heery
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:21 PM

    @Tommy Berry: no but he’s good at mathes

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    Mute Shane Wilson
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    Jul 20th 2021, 11:05 PM

    @Gerard Heery: mathes

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    Mute Mary Nugent
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    Jul 21st 2021, 2:17 AM

    @Uncle Montys oaf: four or 5 more rounds over the next few years.

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    Mute 2thFairy
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    Jul 21st 2021, 10:40 AM

    @Gerard Heery: no. He only knows what year it is.

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    Mute John fitzpatrick
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    Jul 21st 2021, 1:21 AM

    Time the greens take a break from EVs and bicycle Lanes and give some time to cleaning up our Coast
    Time to build proper Sewage treatment plant that do what it’s supposed to do,
    The more house’s and apartments the more poo.
    This constant pollution in our coastal Waters is shocking .

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    Mute Rebecca BarrettNp
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    Jul 20th 2021, 10:02 PM

    The anti-mask brigade will be queuing up to jump in tomorrow!

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    Mute Ronan Lawler
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    Jul 20th 2021, 8:42 PM

    Seagull excretion :)

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    Mute Alex Marquis
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:21 PM

    @Ronan Lawler: because trawlers are throwing sardines into the sea.

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    Mute Anna Carr
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:54 PM

    @Ronan Lawler: did you know that a blue whale excrete 40 gallons of sperm in one ej@culation. Think about that lol.

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    Mute Rob Jones
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    Jul 20th 2021, 11:29 PM

    @Anna Carr: and 200 litres in one poop.

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    Mute Paul Gorry
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    Jul 21st 2021, 12:12 AM

    @Anna Carr: Thankfully it’s not a blue whale destroying me car every morning. Up the fecking seagulls.

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    Mute Anna Carr
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    Jul 21st 2021, 8:46 AM

    @Paul Gorry: haha

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    Mute Anna Carr
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    Jul 21st 2021, 8:46 AM

    @Rob Jones: ewww lol

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    Mute Darren Carroll
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    Jul 21st 2021, 1:47 AM

    Great job Irish water ….now I see why I should pay for you twice

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    Mute Vonvonic
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    Jul 20th 2021, 8:40 PM

    Mother of the limping Christ; these pathogens have the place destroyed

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    Mute Martin O Connell
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:28 PM

    That’s not good news in this heat.

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    Mute Aidan Conway
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    Jul 20th 2021, 10:21 PM

    Thats poo

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    Mute Anna Carr
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:52 PM

    Lovely!!!

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    Mute William Tallon
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    Jul 20th 2021, 9:21 PM

    E. coli? Sounds more like a computer virus rather than a type of bacterium. Not a pleasant experience if you become infected I imagine. Probably what caused the HSE to poop itself back in May…

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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Jul 21st 2021, 5:53 PM

    @William Tallon: It’s not pleasant at all. I know I couldn’t eat for a few months, felt like my shins would snap, and had to have a tube down my throat to check that it wasn’t an ulcer instead of e-coli. If I’d been swimming there yesterday I’d be dousing myself in everything anti-bacterial.

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