WASHINGTON − The Supreme Court won’t review the $1.4 billion judgment against Alex Jones, the conservative media personality and conspiracy theorist who said the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax staged by crisis actors.

The court on Oct. 14 rejected an appeal from Jones, who had separately asked the justices to protect his assets − including his InfoWars website − while he sought their intervention.

A Connecticut jury in 2022 ordered Jones to pay the massive judgment to family members of several of the Sandy Hook victims and an FBI agent after a judge found Jones defamed and greatly harmed them by claiming for years that the killings were staged in a government plot to seize Americans' guns.

Twenty-six people, including 20 children, were killed at the school by 20-year-old Adam Lanza, a shooter who also killed his mother and, later that day, himself.

Jones argued he should have gotten a trial before a judge found him liable for defamation and infliction of emotional distress. The Connecticut judge ruled Jones was liable by default after he refused to abide by court rulings or turn over evidence. A jury then set the level of damages.

“The result is a financial death penalty by fiat imposed on a media defendant whose broadcasts reach millions,” Jones’ lawyers told the Supreme Court in his appeal.

They argued that state courts should not be able to issue administrative default judgments against members of the media.

In addition to the $1.4 billion judgment from the Connecticut lawsuit, Jones is facing a nearly $50 million judgment from a Texas court, also for his claims that the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax. That award went to the parents of a 6-year-old child killed in the murder spree.

Contributing: Aysha Bagchi

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court rejects Alex Jones' appeal of $1.4 billion Sandy Hook judgment

Reporting by Maureen Groppe, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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