Sandy Hook families seek steep punitive damages after $1 billion Alex Jones verdict

FILE PHOTO: Attorney Chris Mattei addresses the media surrounded by families who lost loved ones during the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting, after the jury awarded them $965 million in damages in a second defamation trial against Alex Jones over Sandy Hook claims in Waterbury, Connecticut, U.S., October 11, 2022. REUTERS/Michelle McLoughlin/File Photo

(Reuters) -Families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting on Friday asked a Connecticut judge to order Alex Jones to pay hefty punitive damages on top of nearly $1 billion a jury said the conspiracy theorist owes them for falsely claiming the massacre was a hoax.

The families said in the filing that the "historic" scale of Jones' wrongdoing in the case, his "utter lack of repentance" and clear intention to continue spreading lies about them deserve the highest punishment in the court's power.