All opinions expressed in this article are solely the opinions of the contributors.
One day after a judge ordered conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay $4.1 million in compensatory damages for falsely claiming the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax, a Texas jury awarded the parents of one of the victims another $45.2 million in punitive damages. But with Texas law — in most cases — capping punitive damages at $750,000, the award might end up being nothing more than a message. Still, Straight Arrow News contributor Adrienne Lawrence argues the large award will send a message to other right-wing voices to “choose their words more wisely”:
The eight-figure verdict against Alex Jones was long overdue. The Infowars host had been peddling blatant lies about the very occurrence of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, which happened to be one of the nation’s worst school shootings.
While the verdict — which is comprised of $4.1 million in compensatory damages and a whopping $45.2 million in punitive damages — is definitely much less than the $150 million sought by the Sandy Hook parents, it is still very impactful.
Now unfortunately, the Sandy Hook parents likely will not take home anywhere near the near $50 million total. But even so, this verdict is being felt by folks far beyond Jones, and it feels pretty good. First, let’s go ahead and talk about those punitive damages.
Now, you’d like to think that a jury award should stand as it is, right? You know, we had members of the Austin, Texas community come together for two weeks to hear this defamation case against Jones and ultimately they came to the decision based on the evidence. They heard that Jones admitted to lying, knowing that the Sandy Hook shooting actually occurred…testimony from the parents suffering from complex post traumatic stress disorder due to the harassment by Infowars fans — this per the AP. The parents told jurors about how they’ve endured a decade of trauma inflicted first by the murder of their son and what followed — gunshots fired at home, online and phone threats, and harassment on the street by strangers — all fueled by Jones and his conspiracy theories spread to his followers at Infowars.
With that evidence, the people decided that in addition to paying $4 million to compensate the parents, Jones should be punished to the tune of $45 million. Punitive damages are a legal avenue for punishing intentionally bad actors, hopefully putting them out of business so they stop harming society. It’s a way for the community to communicate disdain for the behavior at issue. Awarding Sandy Hook parents $45.2 million sends the message.
