Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones seeks new trial after nearly $1bn Sandy Hook verdict

Twenty first graders and six educators at Sandy Hook elementary school died in the attack on 14 December 2012.

Six jurors in Waterbury, Connecticut, ordered Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, on 12 October to pay $965m in compensatory damages to the plaintiffs and said punitive damages also should be awarded. Bellis has scheduled hearings for early next month to determine the amount of the punitive damages.

The verdicts came after another jury in Texas in August ordered Jones and his company to pay nearly $50m in damages to the parents of another slain Sandy Hook child. A third trial over the hoax claims, involving two more Sandy Hook parents, is expected to be held near the end of the year in Texas.

Jones, who has acknowledged in recent years that the shooting did occur, has blasted the lawsuits and trials on his Austin, Texas-based Infowars show, calling them unfair and a violation of his free speech rights.

Testifying during the trial, Jones acknowledged he had been wrong about Sandy Hook. The shooting was real, he said. But both in the courtroom and on his show, he was defiant.