Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones seeks new trial after nearly $1bn Sandy Hook verdict

Alex Jones takes the witness stand to testify at the Sandy Hook defamation damages trial at Connecticut superior court in Waterbury, Connecticut, on 22 September. Photograph: Tyler Sizemore/AP

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has asked a Connecticut judge to throw out a nearly $1bn verdict against him and order a new trial in a lawsuit by Sandy Hook families, who say they were subjected to harassment and threats from Jones’s lies about the 2012 Newtown school shooting.

Jones filed the requests Friday, saying Judge Barbara Bellis’s pretrial rulings resulted in an unfair trial and “a substantial miscarriage of justice”.