Alex Jones Faces The Parents Of Sandy Hook Shooting Victims, Families Awarded $45.2M In Damages

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Infowars host Alex Jones was called to answer for his years of spouting conspiracy theories as he took the stand this week in a defamation damages trial brought against him by the parents of a 6-year-old child killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting.

The jury spent less than a day deliberating the case, awarding more than $4 million dollars in compensatory damages.

Alex Jones Faces The Parents Of Sandy Hook Shooting Victims, Families Awarded $45.2M In Damages

In the aftermath of the tragedy, Jones lied to his audience of millions, informing them that the Dec. 14, 2012, massacre, which killed 20 children and six adult staff, was an elaborate hoax perpetrated by the government to undermine gun ownership rights.

For years, he claimed that “crisis actors” staged the attack.

And in 2018, multiple families of Sandy Hook victims and an FBI agent who responded to the scene of the crime brought defamation charges against Jones and Infowars, alleging that his lies made them the target of harassment and violent threats.

On Oct. 1, 2021, a Texas judge found Jones liable for damages in three of these defamation lawsuits by default, after the Infowars host failed to turn over documents to the families’ lawyers.

The trial to determine damages in the first of these lawsuits that he lost, brought by Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, parents of victim Jesse Lewis, started on July 26.

They are seeking $150 million. Lewis directly addressed Jones in court before the conspiracy theorist took the stand.

RELATED: Jury Hits Alex Jones With Millions in Damages After He Admits to Spreading Lies About Sandy Hook Shooting

In his testimony last week, a visibly uncomfortable and sweating Jones was repeatedly admonished by Judge Maya Guerra Gamble and unforgivingly cross-examined by the parents’ lawyer, Mark Bankston.

The Infowars host was confronted not just with his past statements about the Sandy Hook shootings, but also with remarks that he’d made about the judge, jury, and trial on his show earlier in the week.

Livestream clips from the trial have been viewed millions of times on social media.

RELATED: 10-Year-Old Victim Of Uvalde Shooting Discharged From Hospital

The judge ordered Jones to pay $45 million in punitive damages after he called the mass shooting a hoax and accused victims’ parents of being actors.

Heslin and Lewis were awarded $45.2 million in punitive damages for the suffering they experienced due to Jones’ lies.

Jones was not present when the jury announced the verdict, The Washington Post reports.

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