On Wednesday, Connecticut officials and families of the victims praised a jury’s earlier decision that InfoWars’ Alex Jones should pay $965 million to people hurt by his false claim that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax. At the same time, they acknowledged the tragedy and the possibility of more conspiracies.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) wrote on Twitter, “The Sandy Hook families deserve every dollar that Alex Jones will give them.” “But let’s be clear: there is a whole ecosystem of hate and conspiracy, and Jones is just one part of it. Nothing will end until the political right gets rid of this movement.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) said that the survivors showed what courage looks like.
“No amount of money will ever bring back the beautiful lives lost on that terrible day, but this decision is long-awaited resounding justice,” Blumenthal said in a tweet.
The verdict is the second big judgment against the host of InfoWars. This far-right outlet spreads conspiracy theories and false information because he kept spreading the lie that the 2012 massacre never happened and that the crying families shown in the news were actors hired as part of a plan to take away people’s guns.
Gov. Ned Lamont of Connecticut said on Twitter that no one should ever have to go through the kind of harassment and persecution that Alex Jones caused, especially not the families of those who died at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Lamont said that the jury “sent a strong message” that Jones did was “disgraceful.”
It was in a lawsuit filed by the families of five children, three teachers, and an FBI agent who was one of the first people to get to the mass shooting scene. In August, a Texas jury gave nearly $50 million to the parents of another child who had been killed.
Erica Lafferty, whose mother, Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, was the principal at Sandy Hook, said in a statement after the verdict was read, “There will be more Alex Jones in this world, but what they learned here today is that they will absolutely be held accountable.” Lafferty said that the verdict was one of many times since the shooting when she just wanted to call her mom, who was killed at the school.
In court appearances on Wednesday, the families of the victims said that their motivations for filing the lawsuit ranged from getting back the stories of their loved ones to stopping Jones from making more people get harassed.
“All Alex Jones cares about is money, and the only way to explain, I don’t know, how he’s made us feel, is to hit him in the pocket,” Lafferty said on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 3” later on Wednesday.
Robbie Parker, whose daughter was killed in the shooting spree, and Chris Mattei, an attorney for the victims’ families, both asked Jones’ viewers to stop supporting him. Mattei said it would be a good thing if the verdict ended Jones and his business for good.
Mattei said that since 9/11, Jones has been walking in the shadow of death. He also said, “That’s not a good way to run a business in the United States of America.”
On MSNBC’s “Alex Wagner Tonight,” Mattei said Jones could also be asked to pay more damages. Under Connecticut law, a judge could also decide he owes punitive damages on top of these compensatory ones.
Parents and siblings of the victims testified with tears in their eyes at the trial in Connecticut. They said that people who believed the lies Jones told on his show had threatened and harassed them for years.
Strangers came to their homes and started recording them. On social media, people say hurtful things. Lafferty said that rape threats were sent to her house in the mail. Mark Barden said that conspiracy theorists had urinated on the grave of his 7-year-old son Daniel and threatened to dig up the coffin.
On the other hand, Jones made fun of the decision live on his Infowars site.
He said, “I have no money, so it’s all a joke.”
Jones said he was wrong about Sandy Hook while testifying in the case. He said that the shooting was accurate. But he didn’t back down in court or on his show.
He called the trial a “kangaroo court,” made fun of the judge, called the plaintiff’s lawyer an “ambulance chaser,” and said that the case was an attack on the right to free speech. He said that the Democrats and the media were trying to shut him up and put him out of business.
During his testimony, he said, “I’ve already said ‘I’m sorry hundreds of times, and I’m done saying ‘I’m sorry.'”
On Dec. 14, 2012, a shooting killed 20 children and 6 adults. The trial for slander took place in a courthouse in Waterbury, Connecticut, about 20 miles from Newtown, where the attack happened.