A Texas court on Friday slashed a $50 million judgment against Alex Jones over his comments about the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, to $1.5 million.

The Texas Third Court of Appeals unanimously found that Sandy Hook parents Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis did not provide “sufficient evidence that harassment enflamed by Jones’s hoax claims rose to a level that would allow them to exceed the state’s $750,000 cap on damages,” The Guardian reports.

However, the ruling does not impact the $1.4 billion judgment against Jones in Connecticut.

“In The Unanimous Verdict By Democrat Judges, The Court Stated No Evidence Was Shown That Jones Or His Supporters Committed The Acts That Are Claimed. Jones & His Legal Team Now Intend To Take What Remains Of The Judgment That Was Cut From $50 Million To $1.5 Million To The Texas Supreme Court,” Jones wrote on X.

“Ongoing Legal Actions By Jones Against The Deep State Lawfare Operation Are Ongoing & Bearing Fruit. This Is A MASSIVE VICTORY For The 1st Amendment!” he added.

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Last year, the US supreme court refused to hear an appeal from Jones over the larger award but did not provide a reason for its decision.

Jones’s efforts to meet the awards have been subject to legal wrangling. In 2024, Jones dropped a petition and placed himself and his company into bankruptcy, admitting he had to pay the Sandy Hook families. Bankruptcy legal proceedings continue.

Jones has fought to retain control of Infowars, the influential rightwing business and platform he founded in the late 1990s that he used to broadcast conspiracy theories – and enrich himself with millions of dollars by marketing herbal supplements in the process.

Earlier this year, the satirical website the Onion announced plans to take control of Infowars and turn it into a parody of itself under a leasing agreement provisionally approved by a Texas court. However, a completed deal remains in limbo due to legal appeals.

Under a proposed deal with court administrators, Infowars would be leased by Global Tetrahedron, a Chicago-based company that owns the Onion, for $81,000 a month – money that would go toward paying the judgments against Jones.

Jones has called the lawsuit an attack on his First Amendment rights, saying he will continue to appeal the case to the state Supreme Court to have the remaining damages tossed.

“I got lawyers who are good constitutional lawyers and they are not backing down,” Jones said, according to the Associated Press.

CT Insider shared further:

Heslin and Lewis are the parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, who was killed in the shooting in Newtown.

The Texas trial was notable for Lewis’ forceful testimony. “My son existed,” Lewis said in one clip that racked up views.

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At one point while on the witness stand in the trial, Jones admitted that he now believes the shooting was not a hoax.

“Especially after I met the parents, now I believe it’s 100% real,” he said.

 

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