(Photo
by
Drew
Angerer/Getty
Images)
During
closing
arguments
Wednesday
in
the
first
Sandy
Hook
defamation
case
against
rightwing
showman
Alex
Jones,
the
defendant’s
lawyer
Andino
Reynal
cautioned
the
jury
about
anchoring
bias.
He
warned
jurors
not
to
fixate
on
the
first
number
they
were
given,
in
this
case
the
demanded
$150
million
in
punitive
damages
for
Neil
Heslin
and
Scarlett
Lewis,
who
faced
years
of
harassment
after
their
son
Jesse
Lewiss
was
murdered
at
Sandy
Hook
Elementary
School,
and
Jones
called
the
massacre
a
“hoax.”
This
would
have
been
good
advice
for
people
watching
the
trial
as
well,
since
there
was
general
astonishment
when
the
jury
returned
a
$4.1
million
compensatory
verdict
in
favor
of
the
plaintiffs.
Jones’s
conduct
on
his
show
and
in
court
was
so
vile
and
outrageous,
it
created
an
expectation
that
perhaps
a
jury in
Texas
would
smack
the
crap
out
of
a
defendant
without
the
plaintiff
having
to
demonstrate
specific
and
substantial
economic
losses.
And
…
it
didn’t.
Heslin
and
Lewis’s
attorney
Mark
Bankston
purported
to
be
delighted
with
the
verdict
and
promised
that
the
real
action
would
be
the
jury
award
on
punitive
damages.
He
suggests
that
the
cap
on
damages
is
“a
reasonable
multiple”
of
the
punitive
award.
“A
practical
fear
for
Mr.
Jones
is,
is
he
going
to
walk
out
of
this
courtroom
paying
$50
million,
or
is
he
going
to
have
to
walk
out
of
this
courtroom
paying
$6
million?”
Others
have
pointed
out
that
Texas
law
caps
punitive
(“exemplary”)
damages
at
twice
the
compensatory
damage
award
plus
$750,000.
Moreover,
an
exemplary
damage
award
requires
an
unanimous
jury,
and
only
ten
of
the
twelve
jurors
agreed
on
the
original
$4.1
million
compensatory
award.
And
if
the
jury’s
original
award
was
for
non-economic
damages,
i.e.
to
compensate
them
for
pain
and
suffering,
then
they
may
only
get
the
$750,000
in
this
phase
of
the
trial.
Which
is
perhaps
why
plaintiffs’
counsel
tried
to
“anchor”
the
jury
at
$150
million
in
the
first
place.
But
Texas
law
prohibits
telling
the
jury
about
the
cap,
so
it
may
well
return
a
massive
verdict
which
will
then
be
reduced
to
comply
with
the
statute
—
sending
a
signal
about
Jones’s
moral
culpability,
but
allowing
him
to
walk
away
with
a
slap
on
the
wrist
in
light
of
the
company’s
annual
revenues
in
the
neighborhood
of
$65
million.
This
morning,
the
brief
punitive
phase
of
the
trial
began,
giving
the
jury
a
chance
to
punish
Jones
for
his
outrageous
conduct.
Forensic
economist
Bernard
Pettingill
testified
that
Infowars’s
parent
company
Free
Speech
Systems
is
wholly
reliant
on
Jones
agreeing
to
scream
into
a
microphone
forever.
“You
cannot
separate
Alex
Jones
from
the
company,”
he
told
the
jury,
valuing
Free
Speech
Systems
at
$130
million,
twice
annual
revenue,
agreeing
that
he’d
have
had
more
to
go
on
if
(a)
the
company
had
kept
“normal”
books,
or
(b)
the
company
had
actually
complied
with
discovery.
Plaintiffs’
counsel
Wesley
Ball
gave
an
impassioned
close,
urging
the
jury
to
put
an
end
to
Jones’s
“monetization
of
misinformation
and
lies.”
“Speech
is
free,
lies
you
pay
for,”
he
said,
urging
the
jury
to
“not
only
take
Alex
Jones’s
platform
away,
I
ask
that
you
make
sure
he
can’t
rebuild
the
platform.”
“That
is
punishment,
that
is
deterrence,”
he
roared.
In
his
close,
Reynal
sought
to
bring
down
the
temperature
in
the
room,
urging
the
jurors
to
“look
at
the
facts
and
the
law.”
Where
Ball
sought
to
make
Jones
an
avatar
for
misinformation
itself,
Reynal
painted
his
client
as
merely
a
talkshow
host,
suggesting
that
the
Clinton
campaign
and
the
Megyn
Kelly
show
bore
equal
responsibility
for
republishing
Jones’s
words
and
adding
to
the
plaintiffs’
pain.
Didn’t
Scarlett
Lewis
get
the
“award”
of
confronting
Jones
from
the
witness
stand,
he
wondered.
Plus
she
got
an
invitation
to
come
on
his
show!
“That’s
the
good
that
can
come
from
this
case,”
he
intoned
somberly,
before
the
case
went
to
the
jury.
In
the
meanwhile,
CNN
reports
that
US
Bankruptcy
Court
Judge
Christopher
Lopez
reduced
Jones’s
take
home
pay
to
$10,000
per
week,
down
from
$1.3
million
annually.
He
also
cut
off
payments
to
the
company
AmEx
card,
which
was
apparently
being
used
to
pay
something
in
the
neighborhood
of
$350,000
per
month
for
Jones’s
personal
expenses,
including
housekeeping
at
his
home,
where
he
keeps
a
broadcast
studio.
The
jury
returned
its
compensatory
damage
award
relatively
quickly,
and
today
is
Friday
so,
perhaps
we
won’t
have
to
wait
long
to
get
to
the
end
of
this
ordeal
…
and
on
to
the
appeal,
because
these
poor
parents
have
been
through
so
much
already.
New
head
of
Alex
Jones’
company
faces
questions
from
lawyers
for
Sandy
Hook
families
[CNN]
Liz
Dye
lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
writes
about
law
and
politics.