康涅狄格州的一个陪审团判给被诽谤的15名原告近10亿美元的赔偿金阴谋论者亚历克斯·琼斯当Infowars主持人将2012年桑迪胡克小学枪击事件称为演员根据政府编写的剧本上演的骗局，以建立对枪支管制的支持。
当原告在旁听席上啜泣时，书记员宣读了陪审团决定对双方进行赔偿的裁决诽谤和精神痛苦。
周三裁定的赔偿金总额为9.65亿美元，远远超过了2004年的赔偿金额德克萨斯州以前的一个案例。在那起案件中，他被判支付近5000万美元，这是在8月份决定的。
陪审团周三还判给了律师费和诉讼费。
宣读判决时，琼斯正在广播节目中告诉他的听众，“这肯定是地狱的样子——他们只是宣读了损害赔偿，尽管你没有钱。”
他的律师诺姆·帕蒂斯告诉记者，他们计划对这一决定提起上诉。
“坦率地说，从开始到结束，修复是在这个案件中，”帕蒂斯在法院外说。“我们不同意违约的基础，我们不同意法院的证据裁决。”
“在我职业生涯的200多次审判中，我从未见过这样的审判，”他继续说道。
原告、受害者亲属和一名到场的联邦调查局特工作证说，琼斯的追随者相信了他关于大屠杀的谎言，他们受到了折磨。这些家庭表示，在枪击事件发生后的十年里，他们一直受到骚扰和威胁。
其中一名原告罗比·帕克(Robbie Parker)的6岁女儿艾米莉(Emilie)在桑迪胡克大屠杀中遇难，他感谢律师帮助他“对抗并勇敢地面对这么久以来发生在我身上的事情。”
“我很自豪，我们能够做到的只是简单地说出事实。也不应该这么难。它不应该这么可怕，”他在法院外发表的一份情绪激动的声明中说。
帕克表达了对陪审团的感激，“不仅仅是因为他们的裁决，还因为他们不得不忍受的，他们不得不听的，”他继续说道。
比尔·谢拉赫的妻子玛丽在桑迪胡克枪击案中丧生，他警告“亚历克斯·琼斯崇拜者”，审判和判决“为他们进入谎言和欺骗的领域设置了相当高的门槛。”
康涅狄格州州长内德·拉蒙特对判决做出了反应。
他在一份声明中说，“没有人应该忍受亚历克斯·琼斯造成的那种骚扰和迫害，特别是桑迪胡克小学遇难者的家人。”。“康涅狄格州的一个陪审团今天发出了一个强烈的信息，他对这些家庭和第一反应者的所作所为是可耻的。”
琼斯作证说，他当时认为枪击可能是精心策划的，但他后来说，他现在相信这是真的。他拒绝在这次审判中向证人席上的家庭道歉，说他已经道歉得够多了。
去年，一名法官认定琼斯和Infowars的母公司自由言论系统公司(Free Speech Systems)在诽谤诉讼中负有责任，原告包括一名在现场做出反应的联邦调查局(FBI)特工和八名被琼斯称为演员的受害者家属。
原告律师要求琼斯向桑迪·胡克的一群父母支付5.5亿美元，他们声称信息战争主持人散布谎言关于造成26人死亡的大规模枪击事件，其中包括20名小学生。
律师克里斯·马泰(Chris Mattei)要求六名陪审员“考虑诽谤的程度”，并引用了琼斯的一个例子，即这些家庭“伪造了他们6或7岁孩子的死亡。”
帕蒂斯告诉陪审员，让琼斯破产不是他们的工作，因此他将停止传播谎言。
帕蒂斯说，他代表一个“被鄙视的人”，但对原告律师提出的5亿美元的赔偿金额犹豫不决。
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones enters a private car after talking to the media outside State of Connecticut Superior Court during the Sandy Hook hoax defamation trialin Waterbury Conn., Oct. 4, 2022 .
道格拉斯·希利/北极星
“一个年收入10万美元的人需要几百年才能赚到5.5亿美元，”帕蒂斯在闭幕词中说。
琼斯面临第三次，也是最后一次审判，可能会导致另一笔巨额赔偿金。
Alex Jones ordered to pay $965 million in Sandy Hook defamation trial
A Connecticut jury awarded nearly $1 billion in damages to 15 plaintiffs defamed byconspiracy theorist Alex Joneswhen the Infowars host called the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting a hoax staged by actors following a script written by the government to build support for gun control.
With the plaintiffs sobbing in the gallery, the clerk read out the verdict in which the jury decided compensatory damages for bothslander and for emotional distress.
The damages awarded Wednesday total $965 million -- far exceeding the award ina prior case in Texas. He was ordered to pay just shy of $50 million in that case, which was decided in August.
The jury also awarded attorneys fees and costs Wednesday.
Jones, who was on the air with his radio program as the verdict was read, told his listeners, "This must be what hell is like -- they just read out the damages, even though you don't got the money."
His attorney, Norm Pattis, told reporters they plan to appeal the decision.
"Candidly, from start to finish, the fix was in this case," Pattis said outside the courthouse. "We disagree with the basis of the default, we disagree with the court's evidentiary rulings."
"In more than 200 trials in the course of my career, I've never seen a trial like this," he continued.
The plaintiffs, relatives of victims and an FBI agent who responded to the scene testified that they were tormented by Jones' followers who believed his lies about the massacre. The families said they were harassed and threatened in the decade since the shooting.
One of the plaintiffs, Robbie Parker, whose 6-year-old daughter, Emilie, was killed in the Sandy Hook massacre, thanked his lawyers for helping him "fight and stand up to what had been happening to me for so long."
"I'm just proud that what we were able to accomplish was just to simply tell the truth. And it shouldn't be this hard. And it shouldn't be this scary," he said in an emotional statement given outside the courthouse.
Parker expressed gratitude for the jury "not just because of their verdict, but for what they had to endure, what they had to listen to," he continued.
Bill Sherlach, whose wife, Mary, was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting, warned "Alex Jones wannabes" that the trial and verdict "set a pretty high hurdle in terms of what the cost will be for them to enter into that realm of lies and deceit."
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont reacted to the verdict.
"Nobody should ever have to endure the kind of harassment and persecution that Alex Jones caused, especially the families of those killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School," he said in a statement. "A jury in Connecticut today sent a strong message that what he did to these families and a first responder was disgraceful."
Jones testified he believed at the time that the shooting might have been staged, but he has since said he now believes it's real. He declined to apologize to the families on the stand in this trial, saying he had already apologized enough.
A judge last year found Jones and Infowars' parent company, Free Speech Systems, liable in the defamation lawsuit, with plaintiffs that include an FBI agent who responded to the scene and eight families of victims that Jones called actors.
The plaintiffs' attorney had asked that Jones pay $550 million to a group of Sandy Hook parents, who claim theInfowars host spread liesabout the mass shooting that killed 26 people, including 20 elementary school children.
The attorney, Chris Mattei, asked the six jurors to "think about the scale of the defamation," citing as one example Jones' claim the families, "faked their 6- or 7-year-old's death."
Pattis told jurors it was not their job to bankrupt Jones so he would stop broadcasting lies.
Pattis said he represents a "despised human being" but balked at the half-billion-dollar sum proposed by the plaintiffs' attorney.
"It would take a person earning $100,000 a year hundreds of years to make $550 million," Pattis said during his closing statement.
Jones faces a third, and final, trial that could result in another hefty damage award.
