Alex Jones ordered to pay $965 million in Sandy Hook defamation trial

A Connecticut jury awarded nearly $1 billion in damages to 15 plaintiffs defamed by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones when the Infowars host called the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting a hoax staged by actors following a script written by the government to build support for gun control.

With the plaintiffs sobbing in the gallery, the clerk read out the verdict in which the jury decided compensatory damages for both slander and for emotional distress.

The damages awarded Wednesday total $965 million -- far exceeding the award in a prior case in Texas. He was ordered to pay just shy of $50 million in that case, which was decided in August.