Alex Jones verdict: Sandy Hook families say ‘good prevails’ as Infowars conspiracist to pay $1billion

Alex Jones will face a third damages trial in Texas after losing a defamation suit to Lenny Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, parents of Noah Pozner, the youngest victim of the Sandy Hook shooting.

That is likely to take place towards the end of the year.

We’re awaiting reaction from the Sandy Hook families after high drama in the Waterbury courthouse.

In emotional scenes outside the courthouse in Connecticut, Robbie Parker said the experience should not have been so terrifying.

“Everyone on the stand told the truth except for one,” Mr Parker said.

“What has this man ever given me, and what has he taken from me?”

Read the full story of Mr Parker’s appearance in the witness stand below.

Chris Mattei, an attorney for the families, says outside the courthouse that the verdict shows “the harm and wreckage that lies like the ones he pushed can have”.

“We believe (the verdict) is historic, and we are going to enforce this verdict. We are going to go through whatever forum we have to… as long as it takes, because that’s what justice requires.”

Nicole Hockley, who lost her son Dylan in the 2012 shooting, told reporters that she had taken comfort from being with the other Sandy Hook families in court.

“I have always believed in the goodness of other people. And when I first started engaging with followers of Alex Jones back in January of 2013, I was looking for the good. And I didn’t find it. And I gave up. Until I decided to fight.

“Today, with this jury, who I have so much gratitude for listening so attentively... for hearing us, I’m so grateful to them.

“This is sending the right message that people are good, and that good does prevail. And thank you restoring my faith.”

Bill Sherlach, whose wife was shot dead Mary after confronting the shooter, spoke a short time ago outside court.

“I’ve come to know these people over almost 10 years, these beautiful people, they’re good friends, under the worst, most horrendous situation you can imagine.

“And to belittle that horrific event was criminal in and of itself.

“We came in here with a default verdict, so we knew there would be some sort of statement coming out of this trial,” he said.

The jury responded “as we hoped they would for our entire community”, he said.

“It shows that the internet is not the wild, wild west, and that your actions have consequences.

“And for someone to stand in front of a camera probably right now as we’re speaking, to spew the lies to enrich himself, well now there’s a cost-benefit analysis that will have to be done. Because we’ve sent a response, we put a does of civility into the society that we really need at this point in time.

“Going forward, people like Alex Jones will have to rethink what they say, how they say it, how long they say it, and for those who want to be Alex Jones wannabes, this trial, this verdict set a pretty high hurdle in terms of what the cost will be to them, to enter into that realm of lies and deceit.”

After damages awards of more than $1bn in two defamation damages trials, what comes next for Alex Jones?

A bankruptcy hearing for his company Free Speech Systems underway in Texas will go some way to determining how much the families can prise from the Infowars host.

An attorney for the Sandy Hook relatives says they will do whatever it takes to enforce the verdict.

Full story below.

Sandy Hook families spoke emotionally outside of court after the jury awarded them nearly $1bn in damages on Wednesday.

“Everyone on the stand told the truth except for one,” said Robbie Parker, who the jury awarded $120m.

Bill Sherlach, whose wife Mary was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary, warned “Alex Jones’s wannabes” that there was now a cost of entering the “realm of lies and deceit.”

The relatives of Sandy Hook victims openly wept in court as the jury awarded them $965m in the Alex Jones defamation case.

A panel of six people spent more than three days deliberating how much the Infowars host had to pay to the loved ones of victims killed in the 2012 school shooting, after Jones claimed they were actors.

“It took a jury in Connecticut to finally fell this beast,” writes Hannah Selinger for Independent Voices.

“No amount of fundraising can save Alex Jones now. One billion dollars is an insurmountable debt — as insurmountable, some might argue, as having to relive the death of your child over and over again in the public eye for almost an entire decade, without apology.”