The trial comes a month after a Texas jury ruled that Jones and his company Free Speech Systems, parent of fringe media group Infowars, should award nearly $50 million to both parents.
After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Jones told his audience without basis that the incident was staged. He has since admitted a shooting took place, but only after filing a lawsuit. He said in 2019 sworn testimony that a “form of psychosis” led him to make false comments.
In the Connecticut case, Jones is being sued by eight other Sandy Hook families, with Judge Barbara Bellis giving the Infowars founder a default judgment in November 2021 after he failed to comply with a court order.
The jury is in the process of determining the amount of damages to award to the plaintiffs, as the judge has found Jones liable. While the families did not specify a dollar figure, an attorney for the families last week asked jurors to “send a message” to the public in their decision.
Sandy Hook family attorney Christopher Mattey argued during the trial that Jones marketed Sandy Hook’s lie because it was profitable.
Jones’ attorney, Norman Pattis, argued that the Sandy Hook plaintiffs’ claims were “exaggerated.”Pattis also said the Sandy Hook family had “become partisans” and said the defense would argue the harm was exaggerated “because they wanted to keep silent” [Jones] for political reasons. “