Jury: Alex Jones Must Pay Sandy Hook Parents $45M More In Punitive Damages

NEWTOWN, CT — A Texas jury has determined that InfoWars radio host Alex Jones must pay the parents of Jesse Lewis punitive damages of $45.2 million, CNN reported.

Those damages are in addition to the $4.1 million the 12 jurors awarded to parents Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis at the end of Thursday's deliberations.

The jurors heard testimonies Friday from financial forensic expert Bernard Francis Pettingill, Jr., who speculated that Jones' net worth is between $135 million and $270 million. Pettingill did not have access to the financial records of Free Speech Systems, Jones' company, according to Reuters. The company declared bankruptcy last week, Bloomberg reported.

Jones' legal team disputed the figures, asking the jurors for a damages verdict of $270,000 based on the number of hours of broadcast that were presented in the trial.

At the start of the trial, lawyers representing the parents told jurors the radio host should pay $150 million in damages, $75 million for damaging the parents’ reputation and $75 million for emotional distress.

Heslin and Lewis have experienced post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety because of repeated threats from Jones' followers, according to a therapist who testified Monday. The following day both parents were taken into protective isolation following unspecified incidents. Their son Jesse was among the 20 children and six staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School who were killed in 2012 by a 20-year-old gunman.

The Sandy Hook mass shooting inflamed the nation, reigniting battle lines between gun control activists and 2nd Amendment defenders, and serving as a touchstone for the gun violence tragedies that followed. Jones told listeners to his InfoWars show the deaths were a "false flag," and "never happened."

The conspiracy theorist has since recanted, telling the jury Wednesday that he definitely thinks the attack happened. On Thursday, Jones' lawyer Federico Reynal conceded his client had reported "irresponsibly" on Sandy Hook, but was not responsible for the fallout of harassment.

The radio host's next courtroom showdown will be later this month in Connecticut, where the plaintiffs will include eight families who lost loved ones in the tragedy, as well as an FBI agent who responded to the shooting. The third defamation lawsuit, brought by the parents of slain Sandy Hook first-grader Noah Pozner, will be held September in Texas.