Alex Jones seeks new trial after Sandy Hook verdict of almost $1 billion
By Samantha Beech, Brian Vitagliano and Isa Kaufman Geballe, CNN
Far-right talk show host Alex Jones is seeking a new trial after a Connecticut jury decided this month he should pay $965 million in compensatory damages to eight families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims and one first responder.
After the 2012 massacre in which 26 people were killed, Jones has baselessly and repeatedly claimed the incident was staged and the families and first responders were “crisis actors.”
Throughout the trial, which ended this month, plaintiffs described in poignant terms how those lies had prompted unrelenting harassment against them and compounded the emotional agony of losing their loved ones.
In a court motion filed Friday, Jones’ lawyers argued pretrial and evidentiary rulings prevented Jones from a fair trial.
Jones’ lawyers Norm Pattis and Kevin Smith also argued “the amount of the compensatory damages award exceeds any rational relationship to the evidence.”
The verdict, “is both unjust and against the weight of the evidence,” Jones’ lawyers argued.
CNN has contacted lawyers for Alex Jones and an attorney for the plaintiffs but did not receive any immediate response.
After the jury’s decision, Jones said he would appeal. He said during a broadcast after the verdict there “ain’t no money” to pay the massive figure the jury awarded the plaintiffs.
The-CNN-Wire
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