InfoWars founder Alex Jones speaks to the media outside Waterbury Superior Court during his trial on Sept. 21, 2022, in Waterbury, Connecticut. Photo: Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images
Far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is seeking a new trial after a jury ordered him earlier this month to pay the families of Sandy Hook school shooting victims $965 million in damages for falsely claiming the massacre was a hoax.
Driving the news: In a motion filed Friday, Jones asked a Connecticut judge to throw out the verdict against him and his company, and to order a new trial.
- He claimed Judge Barbara Bellis' pretrial rulings resulted in an unfair trial and that jurors were presented with "half-truths," leading to "a substantial miscarriage of justice."
What they're saying: His attorneys, Norm Pattis and Kevin Smith, wrote in the motion that the verdict is "both unjust and against the weight of the evidence."
- "Additionally, the amount of the compensatory damages award exceeds any rational relationship to the evidence offered at trial," they said.
Catch up quick: Jones, primarily through his website and radio show Infowars, falsely claimed for years the shooting was a "false flag" operation planned by the government using "crisis actors" to undermine gun rights, Axios' Jacob Knutson reports.
- Jones admitted during a Texas trial in August that he believes the shooting was "100% real."
- That trial was the first time he was held financially liable for spreading conspiracy theories about the mass shooting.
- He has since been found liable in other defamation lawsuits from family members of Sandy Hook victims.
By the numbers: The nearly $1 billion October verdict comes on top of another $49.3 million in damages a Texas jury ordered Jones to pay to the parents of a 6-year-old boy killed at Sandy Hook.
- Additionally, he was ordered to pay $4.1 million in compensatory damages to the parents of the 6-year-old.