Alex Jones Ordered to Pay Sandy Hook Parents $4.1 Million in Defamation Trial

Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images

Alex Jones must pay $4.1 million in compensatory damages to the parents of a 6-year-old boy murdered in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, a jury decided Thursday.

That’s not all for the infamous conspiracy theorist: the punitive damages phase of the trial begins Friday.

The decision marks a victory for the families of Sandy Hook victims who have been tormented for years by the Infowars host who repeatedly claimed the massacre was a government hoax and that those involved — including the 28 dead, 20 of them children — were “actors.”

Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of slain 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, testified in the two-week defamation trial against Jones and his media company, Free Speech Systems, that the lies he spread about their family led them to fear for their lives.

“I can’t even describe the last nine and a half years, the living hell that I and others have had to endure because of the recklessness and negligence of Alex Jones,” Heslin said.

“It’s fear for your life,” Lewis said. “You don’t know what they were going to do.”

During his own testimony at the trial, Jones admitted he was “100% wrong” about the shooting being fake.

The jury had already found Jones liable for defamation in a summary judgment last year. This trial was held to determine damages in one of the three lawsuits Jones is facing from Sandy Hook families.

Heslin and Lewis sought $150 million from Jones. A lawyer for the Infowars host asked the jury to limit damages to just $8, which would represent one dollar for each compensation charge they were considering.

When asked by Judge Maya Guerra Gamble what amount of damagers he considered fair, Jones said anything more than $2 million would sink Infowars.

Throughout the trial, Jones tested the patience of the Judge Gamble. In one dramatic moment, she admonished the famed conspiracy theorist for lying.

“You must tell the truth while you testify,” the judge told Jones when the jury had left the court room. “This is not your show.”

“I believe what I said was true,” Jones replied.

“You believe everything you say is true, but it isn’t. Your beliefs do not make something true,” she said. “That is what we’re doing here. Just because you claim to think something is true does not make it true. It does not protect you. It is not allowed. You’re under oath. That means things need to be true when you say them. Don’t talk.”

Jones also insulted the judge — and the jury — on his Infowars show, commentary the plaintiffs’ attorney was sure to show at the trial.

The Sandy Hook families are not finished with Jones. There remain two more defamation trials to determine damages owed, another in Austin and one in Connecticut.