Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is seeking a re-trial after asking a Connecticut judge to throw out a near $1billion verdict against him.
Jones, 48, a right-wing shock jock, alleged for years the school massacre in Newtown was staged by “crisis actors” as part of a government plot to impose increased gun control laws in America.
A jury ruled this month Jones should pay $965m (£854m) damages to numerous families, who suffered rape and death threats and extreme emotional distress as a result of his lies.
Jones filed the requests on Friday, alleging Judge Barbara Bellis’ pre-trial rulings resulted in an unfair trial and “a substantial miscarriage of justice”.
His lawyers, Norm Pattis and Kevin Smith, wrote in the motion: “Additionally, the amount of the compensatory damages award exceeds any rational relationship to the evidence offered at trial.”
“Yes, the families in this case suffered horribly as a result of the murder of their children,” Pattis wrote.
The attorneys went on to claim a lack of evidence directly connected Jones with people who harassed and threatened the Sandy Hook families. Pattis said the trial resembled a “memorial service, not a trial”.
Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for the 15 plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Jones, declined to comment but said he and other attorneys for the Sandy Hook families will be filing a brief opposing Jones’ request.
Twenty primary pupils and six staff died in the attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012.
In recent years, Jones admitted that the shooting did in fact take place, going on to condemn the lawsuits and trials on his Texas-based Infowars show as unfair and a violation of his right to free speech.
An FBI agent who responded to the shooting and relatives of eight children and adults killed in the massacre, sued Jones for defamation and infliction of emotional distress over his pushing of the bogus narrative.
During the trial, victims’ relatives said in emotional testimony that they were threatened and harassed for years by people who believed the lies told on Jones’ show.
Strangers showed up at their homes to record them and confronted them in public. People hurled abusive comments on social media. Relatives said they received death and rape threats.
The verdicts came after another jury in Texas in August ordered Jones and his company to pay nearly $50m in damages to the parents of another slain Sandy Hook child.
A third trial over the hoax claims, involving two more Sandy Hook parents, is expected to be held near the end of the year in Texas.
