HARTFORD, Conn. — Lawyers for right-wing provocateur Alex Jones and the families who won nearly $1 billion a month ago for being targets of his Sandy Hook school conspiracy theories argued Monday over another potentially extraordinary award of punitive damages for what was described in court as his “evil” and “reprehensible” behavior.
A Waterbury jury awarded the relatives $965 million in October as compensation for the decade of threats and harassment they suffered by members of Jones’ vast broadcast audience who believe his claims that the 2012 elementary school massacre was a hoax and they were actors in a scheme to outlaw gun ownership.
In its verdict, which Jones’ lawyer called unprecedented in Connecticut and perhaps anywhere else, the jury also awarded punitive damages against Jones after finding the harm his broadcasts caused the relatives of the shooting victims to be especially egregious.
