Status: 06.08.2022 10:10 a.m
A US court has sentenced right-wing conspiracy ideologist Jones to another fine. For years he had spread lies about an elementary school massacre – and now has to pay almost $ 50 million.
A Texas jury has ordered far-right radio host and conspiracy ideologist Alex Jones to pay another $45 million in damages. Plaintiffs, Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose six-year-old son was among the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, are now getting a total of nearly $50 million.
The jury on Thursday initially awarded the parents a good four million dollars in damages. Now ten times the so-called punitive damages were added: a kind of deterrent penalty to persuade the accused to permanently change his behavior.
Jones admits years of lying
For years, Alex Jones had claimed on his show Infowars that the 2012 Newtown school shooting, in which 20 children and six teachers were shot dead, was government orchestrated. Supposedly they wanted to enforce stricter gun laws.
The 48-year-old defended himself in the process with his constitutional right to freedom of expression, but finally admitted that the killing spree actually happened.
Parents of dead child receive death threats
The parents testified at the trial that they had been traumatized for years by Jones’ lies. They kept receiving death threats. Jones and “Infowars” would have made their lives hell.
It is the first time that the operator of the right-wing extremist online portal has been held liable. But it may not have been the last time: two more defamation lawsuits are pending from the survivors of the school massacre.