After hearing seven days of evidence and a series of witnesses, jurors began deliberations to determine how much money InfoWars host Alex Jones should pay the parents of Sandy Hook shooting victim Jesse Lewis, 6 years, for his campaign to portray the attack on the school. like a decoy.
The case went to jurors late Wednesday afternoon, and state District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble said she doubted they would go beyond selecting a foreman and reading of the jury’s statement before the courthouse closes at 5 p.m.
The real work starts today.
Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis asked jurors for $150 million in compensation for actual damages, claiming Jones’ portrayal of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting as a hoax intended to justify a government crackdown on firearms. fire – and parents as liars or collaborators – inspired harassment and death threats from Jones supporters and made recovery from the tragedy impossible.
Jones’s attorney, Andino Reynal, asked jurors to award a total of $8 to $1 for each of the eight harms the court has already found Jones and his main company, Free Speech Systems, inflicted on parents of Jesse.
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At least 10 of the 12 jurors must agree on a verdict. The four alternates, two more than usual due to the pandemic and the two-week trial length, were fired on Thursday.
Before hearing oral argument on Thursday, jurors were told that Jones and Free Speech Systems defamed Heslin in two 2017 InfoWars reports that challenged his claim that he held his son dead and saw the bullet being shot at him. injured in the head after the shooting. Heslin testified that he made the statement in an NBC interview in hopes of stopping Jones’ campaign and protecting the legacy of his son, who died a hero shouting “Run!” when the shooter stopped. Nine students fled; Jesse didn’t.
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Jurors must determine the amount of money that would fairly compensate Heslin for past and future damage to his reputation and past and future mental anguish caused by the defamatory reports.
Jurors were also told Jones and company intentionally inflicted emotional distress on Heslin and Lewis by repeatedly portraying the Sandy Hook shooting as a hoax from 2012 to 2018, when they filed a lawsuit. Every parent can be compensated for past and future mental anguish.
In closing arguments, parents’ attorney Kyle Farrar reminded jurors that they were asked during jury selection if they could approve a compensation award of $100 million or more. Those who couldn’t were eliminated during the selection process, he said.
“This is your opportunity to hold Alex Jones accountable for the harm he has done,” Farrar said.
Reynal said the parents, their expert witnesses and their attorneys failed to prove that they were actually and directly harmed by Jones’ comments.
Once the jurors make their decisions, they will be asked to award punitive damages meant to be punishment. First, jurors will hear from the parents’ economic expert about the net worth of Jones and his business. Jones will also testify at this phase, Reynal said.
Jones, speaking to reporters outside the courthouse on Thursday night, was asked if he accepted responsibility for causing pain for Jesse’s family.
“I didn’t kill their son,” Jones said. “And certainly questioning this big public thing that happened probably caused them pain, but it wasn’t intentional. And you can’t differentiate their pain from the death of their son as I was putting off questioning things, and the idea that I’m the ancestor who first thought of all these anomalies just isn’t true.”
According to InfoWars video released for jurors, on the day of the shooting, Jones questioned whether the attack was a “false flag” operation, saying it had the hallmarks of a staged operation.