Texas appeals court slashes Alex Jones’ Sandy Hook defamation award
A unanimous ruling by the Texas Third Court of Appeals has reduced a $50 million judgment against the Infowars founder, citing insufficient evidence of harassment to exceed state damages caps.
The Texas Third Court of Appeals has issued a unanimous decision reducing a $50 million defamation judgment against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to $1.5 million. The ruling concerns Jones’ claims that the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school mass shooting, which killed 20 children and six staff members, was a “hoax”.
The reduction applies specifically to the claims brought by parents Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose six-year-old son was among the victims. The court found that the couple did not provide sufficient evidence of harassment to exceed the state’s $750,000 cap on damages. Mark Bankston, an attorney for Heslin and Lewis, noted that the ruling affects only two of the 19 claims shared by the families.
Bankston stated that the families were not concerned by the decision, arguing that Jones still faces over a billion dollars in liability. He described the ruling as highlighting the absurdity of Texas law, asserting that the change in damages for these specific claims altered the broader outcome of the case.
The legal action centred on the allegation that Jones knowingly pushed false claims about the victims, including that the children were actors, to capitalise on attention for his Infowars platform. The case alleged that these claims led to a torrent of abuse for the families, with many reporting death threats and forced relocations.
This decision does not affect a separate ruling in Connecticut, which ordered Jones to pay $1.25 billion for similar claims that the shooting was a government hoax to justify gun regulations. Jones and his company have filed for bankruptcy, and he relinquished the Infowars brand in April, though he continues to broadcast online via the social media platform X.
Jones characterised the Friday ruling as a “gigantic victory for the First Amendment”, which protects freedom of expression in the US Constitution. He stated that his legal team, whom he described as good constitutional lawyers, are not backing down and plan to appeal the case to the Texas state Supreme Court to have the remaining charges dismissed.
