Conn. judge denies Alex Jones’ request for a new trial
Judge Barbara Bellis took her time Thursday explaining why Alex Jones was not entitled to a new trial in Connecticut and why she wouldn't reduce the $965 million in damages the jury ordered Jones to pay Sandy Hook families to a figure closer to Jones' liking.
In doing so, Bellis came as close as a judge will come to offering her own legal commentary on a high-profile jury trial she oversaw for four weeks in the fall.
“Here, the overwhelming evidence of the (families') injuries and damages, in conjunction with the court's instructions on the law, which the jury is presumed to have followed, clearly support the verdicts rendered by the jury,” wrote Bellis, a Superior Court judge in Waterbury, in a detailed decision entered Thursday.
“The size of the verdicts, while substantial, does not so shock the sense of justice as to compel the conclusion that the jury was influenced by impartiality, prejudice, mistake or corruption, but instead falls within the necessarily uncertain limits of just damages
to be determined by the jury,” Bellis wrote. “This jury discharged its obligations conscientiously, dutifully, and according to the court's instructions on the law to be applied.”
Bellis went on to defend the jury's behavior as “beyond reproach.”
Jones' Connecticut attorney
Norm Pattis said he had no comment on Friday about the latest defeat for Jones, who is in personal bankruptcy with a debt of nearly $1.5 billion to Sandy Hook families.
Pattis argued that Jones deserved a lowered jury award because the Connecticut jury verdict was
“exorbitant and a result of passion and prejudice.” Pattis argued Jones deserved a new trial because, “the court wholly lost control of the proceedings, to the detriment of Mr. Jones.”
Pattis was referring to jury awards ranging from $29 million to $120 million for an FBI agent and 14 members of eight Sandy Hook families who successfully sued Jones for defamation in Connecticut – a total of $965 million. Bellis added another $473 million Jones has to pay the families for lawyer fees and punitive damages. Jones also owes an additional $49 million to the parents of a slain Sandy Hook boy who successfully sued Jones for defamation in Texas.
Bellis rejected Pattis' arguments to nullify the Connecticut jury trial.
“The court finds the evidence of the devastating harm caused to the (families) through (Jones') continued use of (his) business platform to spread lies to a massive audience clearly supports the verdicts, and that the verdicts are within the limits of a fair and just award of damages,” Bellis wrote.
Bellis' rejection of Jones' motion for a new trial and his motion for a reduction of the Connecticut jury award sets the stage for Jones' last stand in appeals court.
Meanwhile, Jones is trying to keep the lights on at his Texas properties and prevent a disconnection of his electricity service from shutting down his Infowars conspiracy news and supplements platform.
Jones' bankruptcy attorney in Texas filed an emergency motion this week with a federal judge seeking an order to prevent utility companies from shutting off service to his studio and his family homes, saying “the impact on (Jones') business and revenue would be extremely harmful.”
Jones, who called the 2012 massacre of 26 first graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “completely fake with actors,” told viewers earlier in the week that he planned to stay on the air “if Infowars brings in enough money to get past these court cases.”
The lead attorney for the families in Connecticut welcomed Bellis' ruling.
“The court has now affirmed the jury's historic and just rebuke of Alex Jones,” said Chris Mattei in a prepared statement. “The country has these brave families to thank for standing for decency and truth in the face of Jones's vile conduct.”