A Texas appeals court has reduced the $50 million defamation penalty imposed on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to $6 million, ruling that state laws limit the damages he can be forced to pay to Sandy Hook families. The Texas Third Court of Appeals issued a unanimous opinion that upheld more than $4.1 million in compensatory damages awarded to Sandy Hook parents Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis.
However, the court slashed $45 million in punitive damages down to $1.5 million, adhering to a state law that caps punitive damages at $750,000 per plaintiff. The court found that Heslin and Lewis did not provide sufficient evidence that the harassment they endured following Jones's false claims rose to a level that would justify exceeding this cap. The ruling also stated that the trial judge improperly allowed the parents to seek higher damages after the trial had concluded.
Jesse Lewis, the six-year-old son of Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, was among the 26 victims killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Their lawsuit and the 2022 verdict marked the first time Jones was held financially liable for promoting false claims that the massacre was a hoax staged by the government to advance gun control measures.
Alex Jones, the founder of Infowars, has framed the legal proceedings as an attack on First Amendment rights, though he conceded during the trial that the shootings were "100 percent real" and that his previous statements were false. Relatives of the victims testified that Jones's followers, who believed his hoax claims, subjected them to death and rape threats, harassment, and abusive online comments.
The decision by the Texas appeals court does not impact a separate $1.25 billion judgment against Jones in Connecticut, where he was also found liable for defamation and causing emotional distress to relatives of the 20 first-graders and six educators killed in the shooting. Jones's appeal of the Connecticut judgment to the Supreme Court was denied last year.
Mark Bankston, an attorney for Heslin and Lewis in the Texas lawsuit, dismissed the appeals court ruling as "irrelevant," pointing out that Jones still faces substantial financial judgments in Connecticut. "Jones still faces over a billion dollars of liability, so this changes absolutely nothing," Bankston stated. "All it does is highlight the absurdity of Texas law."
The financial judgments against Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, have led to his bankruptcy, the auction of some personal property, and his departure from the Infowars platform. Jones has since moved his broadcasts to new websites and streaming platforms. The satirical website The Onion has also entered the proceedings, having won an auction for the assets of Jones's parent company, Free Speech Systems, as part of bankruptcy proceedings aimed at satisfying some of the defamation judgments. However, a federal judge overturned the auction results due to procedural issues, and the proposed licensing deal with The Onion has been put on hold pending further appeals.