Opinion: Alex Jones finally faces consequences. Hateful lies have to come with a cost.

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Conspiracy theorist and human-body-in-search-of-a-soul Alex Jones is learning, at long last, there’s a price for lying. There’s a price for being a monster, for leveraging the pain of others to make a buck peddling deceit.

A Texas jury on Thursday ordered the host of the notoriously noxious Infowars website to pay more than $4 million in compensatory damages to the parents of a child killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. It doesn’t sound like enough, not for the hell he put Neil Heslin, Scarlett Lewis and the other parents who lost children in the school shooting through.

Sandy Hook parents: Alex Jones claims created 'living hell'

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Fighting back tears and finally given the chance to confront conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, the parents of a 6-year-old killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting described being put through a “living hell” of death threats, harassment and ongoing trauma over the last decade caused by Jones using his media platforms to push claims that it was all a hoax. The parents led a day of charged testimony that included the judge scolding the bombastic Jones for not being truthful with some of what he said under oath.

But it’s something. It’s a consequence of despicable lies, claims the shooting never happened, horrid assertions the parents were “crisis actors,” red-faced, blathered nonsense that they were participants in a “false flag operation” to rally people toward stricter gun control laws.

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It’s a consequence of forcing parents who had experienced an unspeakable tragedy to go into hiding, to face death threats, to never be able to fully grieve.

'I don't think you can recover'

During the trial this week, Lewis, whose 6-year-old son Jesse was murdered at Sandy Hook, was asked by one of her attorneys: “How do you recover from someone saying your child wasn’t murdered?”

Alex Jones Defamation Trial: Key Takeaways on Sandy Hook, Infowars and More

Jury deliberations are underway following a two-week trial marked by several dramatic moments and revelations.Jones has already been found liable for defamation in Texas and Connecticut due to making repeated false claims that the 2012 attack in Newtown, Connecticut—the most deadly elementary school shooting in U.S. history—was a hoax. A second trial to determine damages in Connecticut was expected to begin following jury selection this week but has been delayed due to a last-minute bankruptcy filing for Jones' media company Free Speech System.

She paused and said this: “I don’t think you can recover. I don’t think you do recover. Unless it stops. Unless it’s retracted. Unless there’s accountability and there’s responsibility. And that hasn’t happened.”

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Thursday night  it did happen. And the compensatory damages are just the start. The Texas jury will now consider punitive damages, and Jones has been found liable in two other defamation lawsuits – one in Texas, one in Connecticut – by other families, so juries will continue to make him pay.

Alex Jones' lies were writ large

Many were disappointed the damages weren’t higher. The parents’ attorneys had asked for $150 million. Jones' attorney suggested a piggishly insulting $8 million.

Here’s how I see it: Alex Jones lost. His horrific lies were revealed and writ large. He was publicly scolded, over and over, by Judge Maya Guerra Gamble, who called him out for his lies and made him look like the petulant, small, opportunistic brat he is.

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At one point she told Jones: “It seems absurd to instruct you again that you must tell the truth while you testify, yet here I am. You must tell the truth while you testify. This is not your show.”

When Jones said he “believed” he was telling the truth, Gamble shot back: “You believe everything you say is true, but it isn’t. Your beliefs do not make something true. That is what we’re doing here. Just because you claim to think something is true does not make it true.”

A monster faces consequences

Jones is one of the most mendacious, malevolent public figures we have. The pain he put the Sandy Hook families through is only part of the staggering damage he has done to the idea of truth in this country, and to the standards of decency by which we should all abide.

Beyond the bile he spits, he has spawned an army of online trolls who treat his words as gospel and attack perceived enemies with dangerous vitriol. He feeds the id of lost souls, making himself rich in the process.

© Jon Cherry, Getty Images Alex Jones, the founder of right-wing media group Infowars, addresses a crowd of pro-Trump protesters after they stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

We see too many horrid lies these days. From politicians. From pundits. From like-minded hordes on Twitter. “Groomer.” “Communist.” “Baby killer.” “Pedophile.”

Alex Jones ordered to pay Sandy Hook parents more than $4M

Jones was accused of lying under oath on more than one occasionThe jury in the defamation suit against Alex Jones ordered the “Infowars” host to pay $4.1 million to the parents of a child who was killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

These words, slung by hysterics who believe they won’t face consequences for their prevarication, draw blood. They inflict deep pain, the kind of pain Sandy Hook parents have suffered since a Texas conspiracy babbler decided to worsen their lives for profit.

Jones penalty not enough, but a start

On the stand this week, Lewis looked directly at Jones and said: “In some way, you’ve impacted nearly every single day of my life, negatively, since Jesse was murdered.”

I hope, when all is said and done, Jones is buried in consequences. Buried in them.

And while the one he faced Thursday didn’t feel like enough, at least it was a start.

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Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Twitter @RexHuppke and Facebook: facebook.com/RexIsAJerk

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alex Jones finally faces consequences. Hateful lies have to come with a cost.