Texas judge rules Alex Jones must pay Sandy Hook parents full $49 million in defamation case

Alex Jones walks into the courtroom on July 28 in front of Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, the parents of 6-year-old Sandy Hook shooting victim Jesse Lewis, at the Travis County Courthouse in Austin. (Credit: Briana Sanchez/Pool via REUTERS)

A Texas district court judge has ruled that Infowars host Alex Jones must pay the parents of a 6-year-old killed in the Sandy Hook shooting the full $49 million in damages in a defamation lawsuit, despite a state law that limits the amount of punitive damages that can be awarded in civil suits.

In August, a jury awarded Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin $4.1 million in compensatory damages and $45.2 million in punitive damages against Jones for spreading a conspiracy theory that the shooting was a hoax. Jones’ lawyers were attempting to invoke the state’s cap to slash the amount he owed by more than $40 million. But in a hearing Tuesday, Travis County District Court Judge Maya Guerra Gamble questioned the constitutionality of the law, which could limit the amount of punitive damages in this case to $750,000, The New York Times reported.