In a surprise reversal, a Texas court has sided with Infowars founder Alex Jones over comments he made about the Sandy Hook shooting, a new report shows.
Read more ‘Breathtaking’: Trump’s ‘latest ruse’ to deface Kennedy Center decimated in court
A Texas court has slashed the $50 million judgment to $1.5 million against Infowars founder Alex Jones over falsely calling the 2012 school shooting a hoax, the Associated Press is reporting.
The ruling does not affect a $1.4 billion judgment against Jones in Connecticut, but represents a significant legal victory for Jones after he and his company, Free Speech Systems, “were found liable for damages for claiming the mass shooting didn’t happen.”
The unanimous opinion by the Texas Third Court of Appeals found that Sandy Hook parents Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis did not show evidence that harassment “enflamed” by Jones’ hoax claims rose to a level that would allow them to exceed the state’s $750,000 cap on damages.
Read more ‘Seems like a spoof’: Conservative Pulitzer-winner turns on Trump’s ‘absurd’ candidate
Heslin and Lewis’s 6-year-old son Jesse Lewis was among 20 children and six educators killed in the 2012 attack in Newtown, Connecticut.
The lawsuit and 2022 verdict against Jones marked the first time Jones was held “financially liable” for peddling lies about the massacre, claiming it was faked by the government to tighten gun laws.
Jones’ trial attorney Andino Reynal had said he would appeal the damages amount and predicted shortly after trial that he could get it reduced to $1.5 million.
Read more ‘Like a cartel’: Trump wields ‘secret weapon’ in latest culture war front
