Closing this — TP
US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been ordered to pay $49.3m in damages after falsely claiming a 2012 school shooting was a hoax.
A jury in Texas ruled the radio host must pay $45.2m in punitive damages, in addition to $4.1m in compensatory damages they awarded a day earlier. The two-week defamation trial was brought by the parents of a child killed in the attack.
The case was brought by Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, the separated parents of six-year-old Jesse Lewis, who died in the primary school shooting.
The parents – who said they had endured harassment and emotional distress because of the Infowars founder’s misinformation – were seeking $150m.
The punitive damages are meant to act as a deterrent, and stop Jones from repeating his offence.
Despite retracting his claims about Sandy Hook, Jones has continued to use his platform to attack jurors and the judge in this case.
He has repeatedly claimed to be bankrupt despite evidence that his companies were earning about $800,000 a day selling diet supplements, gun paraphernalia and survivalist equipment.
His behaviour triggered multiple rebukes from the judge, who at one point reminded him: “This is not your show”.
Jones – a popular figure in US fringe conservative commentary – has repeatedly argued that the shooting was a hoax orchestrated by the government to strip Americans of gun rights, and that the parents of the dead children were “crisis actors”.
His lawyer had cited US constitutional free speech protections and asked for leniency in the trial, saying the jury had already sent a message to all radio hosts “that their standard of care has changed”
Captain
Article URL : https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62444302