US court slashes Alex Jones fines for Sandy Hook school shooting case

Austin, Texas (AP) — A Texas court on Friday reduced a $50 million judgment to $1.5 million against Infowars founder Alex Jones, for falsely claiming the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax. This ruling, without impact on the $1.4 billion judgment in Connecticut, represents a significant legal win for Jones. Despite multiple financial judgments against him in Connecticut and Texas, Jones has not yet paid any amounts, as he appeals the judgments and attempts to liquidate his company.

The unanimous appeal by the Texas Third Court of Appeals determined that the harassment caused by Jones’ lies did not exceed the $750,000 cap on damages per plaintiff. Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose six-year-old son Jesse Lewis was among the 20 children and six educators killed in the 2012 atrocity in Newtown, Connecticut, were among those who brought the lawsuit.

The 2022 verdict marked the first time Jones was held financially accountable for disseminating falsehoods about the massacre. Although Jones claimed the attack was "100% real" during the trial, he conceded during his streaming show that he was wrong to have lied about it. In the Friday statement, he called the Texas ruling "a gigantic victory for the First Amendment," adding that he would keep appealing to the state Supreme Court to eliminate the remaining damages.

Heslin and Lewis had stated during the trial that an apology would not be enough, and called for Jones to be held accountable for the years of suffering he inflicted on them and other Sandy Hook families. Jones' legal team predicted the damage amount would be reduced to $1.5 million following the verdict. Jones and his company have filed for bankruptcy, and those legal processes continue.

The satirical website The Onion also attempted to take over Jones' Infowars platforms to turn his conspiracy theories into parody sites. Jones relinquished the Infowars brand in April and shifted his broadcasts to new websites, posting them on his personal X account. The Onion has established its own Infowars webpage on its website, airing videos of shows that parody Jones.