Alex Jones ordered to pay nearly half a billion dollars to Sandy Hook families in additional damages - CNN

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A Connecticut justice connected Thursday ordered right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to wage an further $473 cardinal successful punitive damages implicit the lies helium told astir the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

Connecticut Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis awarded the families implicit $323 cardinal successful communal instrumentality punitive damages for attorney’s fees and costs and $150 cardinal successful damages nether a authorities instrumentality called the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act, which prohibits unfair contention and deceptive acts.

“The grounds besides establishes that the defendants repeated the behaviour and attacks connected the plaintiffs for astir a decade, including during the trial, wanton, malicious, and heinous behaviour that caused harm to the plaintiffs,” Bellis said successful her decision. “This depravity, and cruel, persistent people of behaviour by the defendants establishes the highest grade of reprehensibility and blameworthiness.”

The monolithic sum of wealth is successful summation to the $965 cardinal a assemblage awarded 8 families of Sandy Hook victims and a archetypal responder last month successful compensatory damages. Under Connecticut law, a justice determines the magnitude of punitive damages to award.

Jones baselessly repeated aft the 2012 wide shooting, successful which 26 radical were killed, that the incidental was staged, and that the families and archetypal responders were “crisis actors.”

The lies spawned aggregate lawsuits and a proceedings was held successful September and October implicit lawsuits that were filed successful Connecticut.

The plaintiffs successful that suit passim the proceedings described successful poignant presumption however the lies had prompted unrelenting harassment against them and compounded the affectional agony of losing their loved ones.

CNN has reached retired to Alex Jones’ lawyer for comment.

It’s unclear erstwhile oregon however overmuch of the wealth the plaintiffs volition yet see.

Jones has said that helium volition entreaty the archetypal Connecticut determination and claimed that determination “ain’t nary money” to wage the monolithic fig the assemblage initially awarded the plaintiffs.

The decision successful Connecticut came aft a abstracted assemblage successful Texas determined that Jones and his institution should grant 2 Sandy Hook parents who sued successful that authorities astir $50 million.

While Jones initially lied astir the 2012 shooting, helium aboriginal acknowledged that the massacre had occurred arsenic helium faced aggregate lawsuits. But helium failed to comply with tribunal orders during the find process of the lawsuits successful Connecticut and Texas, starring the families successful each authorities to triumph default judgments against him.