Alex Jones walks into the courtroom in front of Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, the parents of 6-year-old Sandy Hook shooting victim Jesse Lewis, at the Travis County Courthouse in Austin, Texas, U.S. July 28, 2022. Briana Sanchez/Pool via REUTERS/File PhotoRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAug 2 (Reuters) - The father of a child killed in the Sandy Hook massacre told a jury that he had endured years of "hell" after U.S. conspiracy theorist Alex claimed 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.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"I can’t even describe the past nine-and-a-half years of hell I have had to endure because of the negligence and recklessness of Alex Jones and the propaganda he has peddled for his own profits and success," Heslin testified on Tuesday.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.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Jack Queen; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Howard Goller, Bradley Perrett and Mark PorterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Father of child killed in Sandy Hook says experienced "hell" because of Alex Jones' lies.