Alex Jones hit with $45 million in punitive damages by Texas jury: report

One day after a Texas jury determined Alex Jones must pay two Sandy Hook parents $4.1 in compensatory damages, the same jury ruled in must also pay $45.2 million in punitive damages.

Jones was sued for defamation by Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of Jesse Lewis, who was murdered in the 2012 fatal school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut which Jones falsely claimed was a hoax.

Heslin and Lewis were awarded a total of $49.3 million.

Elizabeth Williamson, the author the book Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy and the Battle for Truth, attempted to put the verdict in context.

"Remember this is the first of three trials for damages against Jones," Williamson wrote.

"Two more are scheduled for next month-— one in Texas, and one brought by the families of eight victims in Connecticut, where laws governing damages favor plaintiffs more than in Texas," she reminded. "And Connecticut is where the shooting occurred."