Father Of Child Killed In Sandy Hook Testify In Alex Jones Defamation Trial

Alex Jones walks into the courtroom in front of Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, the parents of 6-year-old Sand Hook shooting victim Jesse Lewis, at the Travis County Courthouse in Austin, Texas, U.S. July 28, 2022. Jones had been found to have defamed the parents of a Sandy Hook student for calling the attack a hoax, and the parents are seeking $150 million in compensatory and punitive damages for what they say was a campaign of harassment and death threats by Jones? followers. Reuters / BRIANA SANCHEZ/POOL

The father of a child killed in the Sandy Hook massacre took the stand on Tuesday to testify that U.S. conspiracy theorist Alex Jones fueled a campaign of harassment against them by claiming the shooting was a hoax.

Jones, founder of the Infowars radio show and webcast, is on trial in a Texas court to determine how much he must pay for spreading falsehoods about the killing of 20 children and six staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012.

Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of slain 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, are seeking as much as $150 million from Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems LLC.

A lawyer for Jones said he had already paid a price after being deplatformed in 2018 and losing millions of viewers.

Jones has since acknowledged that the shooting took place. He was expected to take the stand later on Tuesday in his defense, a lawyer for the parents said.

The defamation suit in Austin, Texas, where Infowars is based, is one of several brought by families of victims who say Jones's followers harassed them as a result of his false claims.

The Sandy Hook gunman, Adam Lanza, 20, used a Remington Bushmaster rifle to carry out the massacre. It ended when Lanza killed himself with the approaching sound of police sirens.