<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;">US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been ordered to pay 49.3 million dollars in damages after falsely claiming that a 2012 school shooting was a hoax. A jury in Texas ruled, the radio host must pay 45.2 million dollars in punitive damages, in addition to 4.1 million dollars in compensatory damages they awarded a day earlier. The two-week defamation trial was brought by the parents of a child killed in the attack. Twenty children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook in Connecticut on December 14, 2012.</span></p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;">The lawsuit was filed by Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, the separated parents of six-year-old Jesse Lewis, who died in the primary school shooting. The plaintiffs had sought 150 million dollars.</span></p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;">The punitive damages are meant to act as a deterrent and to stop Jones from repeating his offence. Earlier on Friday, an economist hired by the parents testified that Jones, his media brand and parent company are worth up to 270 million dollars.</span></p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;">The parents had sought 145.9 million dollars in punitive damages and 150 million dollars in compensatory damages.</span></p>