HARTFORD, Conn. — A lawyer for Sandy Hook families said Monday that significant punitive damages need to be imposed on Alex Jones to deter him and other conspiracy theorists from continuing to tell their followers the 2012 Newtown shooting was a hoax, in addition to the nearly $1 billion he already has been ordered to pay victims’ relatives.
Attorney Christopher Mattei’s comments came during a video conference hearing before a Connecticut judge on how much punitive damages the Infowars host and his company, Free Speech Systems, should pay victims’ families. In a hypothetical calculation, the families’ lawyers say punitive damages could total $2.75 trillion, but they have not asked for a specific amount.
Judge Barbara Bellis said she will rule at a later date.
Jones’ lawyer, Norm Pattis, argued any punitive damages should be minimal, because last month’s $965 million jury verdict on compensatory damages is so large and “unparalleled” it is the functional equivalent of punitive damages. Mattei disagreed.
“Here, where — in our view — the conduct really rises to the level of reprehensible, evil, really just malicious conduct, there’s no situation in which … nominal punitive damages would be sufficient under the law,” Mattei told the judge. “There’s really no way any of us, I think, can wrap our minds around what kind of depravity it took for Mr. Jones to do what he did.”
Jones, based in Austin, Texas, continued to bash the trial as unfair and an assault on free speech rights.
