Jury awards Sandy Hook parents $4 million in Alex Jones defamation trial in Texas

AUSTIN, Texas — After a full day of deliberations, a jury awarded two Sandy Hook parents $4.11 million in the first verdict in the Alex Jones defamation trial. Punitive damages must still be decided.

Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis won their defamation lawsuit against Jones, who promoted the Sandy Hook shootings that killed their son Jesse as a “hoax” staged with “crisis actors.” The trial that concluded Wednesday focused on how much the jury will award the parents, who are claiming Jones’ “lies” are causing fear, anxiety and post-traumatic stress, on top of the grief that comes with losing a child.

Heslin and Lewis were in the courtroom when the judge read the jury’s verdict and had no discernible reaction.

“That’s a darn good start and we now have the punishment phase,” said their attorney Mark Bankston.

Jones’ attorney Andino Reynal said his client was satisfied with the amount the jury decided to give the parents. “I think on behalf of the entire legal team today was an absolute vindication for the American legal system,” Reynal said. “We’re very pleased with the verdict thus far and we look forward to presenting the rest of the case.”

The jury will return on Friday to hear from more witnesses to decide punitive damages.

The parents asked for $150 million — $1 in compensation and $1 in punishment for the estimated 75 million Americans who experts claim don’t believe or doubt the shooting occurred. Their goal, they said, is to punish Jones for his “lies” in the hope that he’ll think twice about promoting conspiracy theories on his Infowars platform.

But Bankston said that’s not the point of this first verdict.

“We’re going to go back and talk to the jury tomorrow about how much they’re (Infowars) worth and how much it will take to deter them,” he said. “But this verdict, this is merely about Scarlett and Neil’s mental stress. It has nothing to do with Mr. Jones and how much his business is worth.”

Jones was already ordered to pay about $1.5 million in sanctions toward the parents, Bankston said.

“After tomorrow, he’s going to owe a lot more,” Bankston said.

The jury was to decide damages for Heslin for the loss of his reputation for Infowars coverage that occurred in 2017 — including a report questioning whether he held his son in the hours after he died. The 12-member jury also decided how much Heslin and Lewis should receive for the intentional infliction of mental anguish that spanned from 2013 to 2018, the judge said during her instructions.

The jury began deliberating for a brief period late Wednesday afternoon following closing arguments and came back with a verdict around 5 p.m. Thursday.

The six-day trial included several twists and turns with Lewis and Heslin providing heart-wrenching testimony about the loss of their son who was called a hero for telling his classmates to run when the shooter went to reload his gun.

Lewis and Heslin spoke of being tormented by Jones’ followers who would send emails questioning their son’s death. In one case, someone shot at Heslin’s home, he said.

Minutes after Lewis left the stand, Jones started his testimony — after being chided by the judge for chewing on a wad of gauze in his mouth from a pulled tooth. Jones was often bombastic on the stand, staying that he tried in the last few years to show he knew that children died in the shooting but “the media” wouldn’t let him “walk back” his original claims that the killings were a hoax.

He apologized to Lewis and Heslin, saying that “we never intentionally meant to hurt you.”

Jones also admitted on the stand that it was irresponsible of him to portray the deaths as a hoax.

“I really could believe it was fabricated,” Jones said Wednesday when he was asked about his Sandy Hook coverage.

“You do understand that was irresponsible?” Reynal said.

“Yes,” Jones said, “especially after I met the parents, now I believe it’s 100 percent real.”

Jones faces a similar but separate trial in Connecticut and will face another in Texas. Jury selection was halted in that Connecticut case on Tuesday, however, when Jones’ attorney asked that the case be moved to federal bankruptcy court in Connecticut due to the bankruptcy filing.

Staff writers John Moritz and Jordan Fenster contributed to this story.