Infowars host Alex Jones filed an appeal on Friday seeking a new trial in the Sandy Hook defamation case, which ended with him owing nearly $1 billion to 15 plaintiffs who were harmed by a conspiracy theory he spread for years.
In a motion filed in a Waterbury, Conn., court, Jones claims that pre-trial motions and “evidentiary rulings” prevented him from receiving a fair trial.
“The amount of the compensatory damages award exceeds any rational relationship to the evidence officered at trial,” the motion reads. “The verdict in the instant case is both unjust and against the weight of the evidence.”
A jury determined earlier this month that Jones must pay $965 million to eight families who are relatives of the Sandy Hook tragedy, one of the largest awards ever in a U.S. defamation trial.
Through his far-right Infowars website and live show, Jones spread a conspiracy theory for years that the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook elementary in Newton, Conn., was a hoax staged by the U.S. government to enact stricter gun control measures.
The Sandy Hook shooting was one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history, with 20 children and six adults killed in the massacre.
Jones has since acknowledged he told a lie, but the conspiracy theory became popular in far-right circles and led to the relentless harassment of the victims of the Sandy Hook tragedy.
A Connecticut judge ruled in September that Jones was liable by default in the defamation case after he refused to cooperate with the court. The latest jury trial determined how much he owed the families, who spoke extensively in court about the emotional damages they incurred from the harassment.
The massive sum awarded to the plaintiffs was far higher than most people had expected, including the plaintiffs.
During the trial, Jones said he was “done apologizing” and accused the families of “ambulance chasing.” He has said he can’t afford to pay the amount he now owes.
In a memorandum filed alongside the motion on Friday, Norman Pattis and Kevin Smith, the attorneys for Jones, said there should not have been a default in the case, in which Jones was automatically found guilty and the jury was left to only determine damages.
They said their client presented thousands of documents and sat for multiple depositions.
“The result was the functional equivalent of an execution by firing squad, with the defendants required to pay the cost of the bullets used to kill them,” they wrote.
His attorneys also argue the plaintiffs did not provide factual evidence related to the damages, calling the trial a “memorial service” for the families, adding the jury was “led to believe that half-truths and sleights of hand were the product of fair and just judicial proceedings.”
“Mr. Jones is within his rights to regard this trial as little more than very sort of hoax he was accused of spreading,” they concluded.
The Hill has reached out to a lawyer for the Sandy Hook families.