Judge backs full $49M jury award against Infowars’ Jones

A Texas judge said she will not lower a nearly $50 million punishment against Alex Jones that a jury handed down earlier this year over the Infowars host spreading false conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Connecticut.

Since that August trial in Texas, other judgments against Jones in Connecticut have stacked up to a staggering $1.44 billion — setting up what experts say is likely a long fight ahead for Sandy Hook families to try to collect that money.

The decision by Judge Maya Guerra Gamble is another defeat for Jones and notable because a Texas law has raised questions about how much of the punishment would stand.

In most civil cases, Texas law limits how much defendants have to pay in “exemplary,” or punitive, damages to twice the “economic damages” plus up to $750,000. But Gamble said she would enter a judgment for the full amount.

Jones could appeal. Twenty children and six adults died in the shooting on Dec. 14, 2012.