A jury in Connecticut decided Wednesday, that radio host Alex Jones should pay $965 million to people who suffered from past false claims that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax. Jones had reportedly claimed that 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. The defamation trial was held at a courthouse in Waterbury, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Newtown, where the attack took place.
This verdict came as a result of a lawsuit filed by the relatives of five children and three educators killed in the mass shooting, plus an FBI agent who was among the first responders to the scene. The second largest verdict in this case, in August, a Texas jury awarded nearly $50 million to the parents of another slain child. Jones now faces a third trial, in Texas, in a lawsuit filed by the parents of another child killed in the shooting.
Apparently, these persons were able to prove that Jones and his Infowars show, were responsible for the damage to their lives as a result of Jones speculative reporting. The trial featured tearful testimony from parents and siblings of the victims, who told about how they were threatened and harassed for years by people who believed the lies told on Jones’ show. Twenty children and six adults died in the shooting on Dec. 14, 2012.
They claimed that people hurled abusive comments on social media and strangers showed up at their homes to record them. Daughter of slain Sandy Hook principal Dawn Hochsprung, Erica Lafferty, testified that people mailed rape threats to her home and Mark Barden told of how conspiracy theorists, had urinated on the grave of his 7-year-old son, Daniel, threatening to dig up his coffin.
Jones wasn’t there in the courtroom after the verdict was read, but live video from the court played on a split screen him commenting -
“Hey, folks, don’t go buying big homes,”
-Alex Jones, Infowars Show
Jones acknowledged, by testimony that 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, calling the proceedings a “kangaroo court,” mocked the judge, called the plaintiffs’ lawyer an ambulance chaser and labeled the case an affront to free speech rights. He claimed it was a conspiracy by Democrats and the media to silence him and put him out of business.
In the lawsuit, Jones and Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, were accused of using the mass killing to build his audience and make millions of dollars. Testifying that Jones’ audience swelled when he made Sandy Hook a topic on the show, as did his revenue from product sales, experts confirmed the allegation.
Jones had said during his testimony –
“I’ve already said ‘I’m sorry’ hundreds of times and I’m done saying I’m sorry,”
-Alex Jones, Infowars Show
Being found liable by default, after Jones failed to cooperate with court rules regarding sharing evidence, he was barred from mentioning free speech rights and other topics during his testimony. The sad truth is he made a mistake that set the stage for others who were listeners of his show to act upon wrongfully.
That he posed the question however was not unusual – many in the media today say various things to get a rise out of their listeners. Many media outlets are famous for doing the very same thing and they are still in business.
While it is tragic that peoples’ lives were affected so badly, is the fault of those of his listeners who went off the rails and used it for their own emotional release of anger against whomever. This is much like BLM and others who have incited violence in the riots nationwide in recent years. Many American cities, and citizens lives were changed radically – even being frightened to live and move as they once did.
Why is Jones and his company being singled out?
No one is debating that there were repercussions of his speculative and unfounded claims, nor debating that these people’s lives were affected, aside from their already grievous losses - but why is he being attacked and not those that perpetrated the crimes themselves?
Further, that he was not allowed by the court rules to discuss free speech rights – puts him in the position of being locked into a judgement, void of a complete testimony. One can see why he has been so defiant in the face of the trial and this verdict. His due process has been affected, as have his first amendment rights. No one seems to care.
Why? Because they want him to pay up and go away?
This is more about why Jones and his parent company, versus all the others who have used radical episodes of “free speech” to deliberately stir up populations to mayhem and violence – have had no one prosecute them.
In fact, for the most part they have been protected by Democrats in their various district’s and states. This trial, is very much related to the loss of Jones right to free speech. He has been singled out to pay the price for literally what others have done. While we grieved as a nation for the lives lost at Sandy Hook, we also grieve as a nation for the seeming death of free speech that is upon us all in this verdict.
One blogger put it this way-
“I’m curious if the naacp and blm will get sued for riots, murders, looting and burning down small businesses, synagogues, and churches?”
-MAGAToughScene, Breitbart Blogger
“The truth does not require a majority to prevail, ladies and gentlemen. The truth is its own power. The truth will out. Never forget that.”
-Rush Limbaugh