"He loved pretending like he was a little soldier," she explains. Scarlett Lewis knows exactly what she would do if she could see her forever 6-year-old son, Jesse, again. "I've had many death threats," Heslin told CBS News in 2018. Twenty of them were between the ages of 6 and 7. 's courage in moving on and using his pain to help others inspires her daily. Sandy Hook school shooting: Jesse Lewis, 6, was killed after telling Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. Chris Mattei, attorney for the families, urged viewers not to donate to Jones. 'I am so incredibly proud of him,' Ms Lewis told the Associated Press. Profile", "Little hero of Sandy Hook saved his pals", "Sandy Hook Student Killed After Telling Classmates to Run: Mom", https://www.policinginstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/csp_aar.pdf, "Meet the Mom Behind the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement! Courtesy Lewis Family/Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement. Lily James steals the spotlight in a dramatic leather gown as she flies Met Gala 2023: Kate Moss, 49, slips into a pink lingerie inspired gown as she coordinates with lookalike Met Gala 2023: Brooklyn Beckham looks lovingly at wife Nicola Peltz as she wears a flowing white gown with Baring it all! On the 10-year anniversary of the day her son was taken from her, Lewis says she plans to do what her family does every year: Gather at Jesse's grave, light candles, read bible verses and inspirational quotes and say a prayer. (Cultivating Authentic Relationships in the Education System), Experiential Educator Wellness Workshops for school leaders and educators. Always. And it just shows how bold they are, that they clearly used actors," he said. 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. Head coach, several players out at Albany Empire after pay issues, Bride dies at beach when speeding DUI driver slams golf cart. Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis Testify Against Alex Jones The Associated Press contributed to this report. Television camera tripods are set up in preparation for a jury verdict in the Alex Jones defamation trial at Superior Court in Waterbury, Conn. on Wednesday, October 12, 2022. Heslin told jurors that the pain of losing his son was compounded by Jones assertion that he never existed. Heslin said his home and car have been shot at. "I've come to know these people over almost 10 years," he said. Shortly after the shooting occurred on Dec. 14, 2012, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones spread a slew of lies and disinformation, claiming the shooting was staged, Lewis was a paid actor and that her son, Jesse, did not exist. To restore the honor and legacy of my son," Heslin said when Jones wasn't there. Safia Samee Ali is a reporter for NBC News Digital, based in Chicago. [16] Choose Love for Schools Program is now the most taught program in some states. "He was exactly how a little boy is supposed to be," she says. "Nurturing" means loving, kindness and gratitude; "Healing" means forgiveness; and "Love" means compassion-in-action. But I know that this is not the end of Alex Jones in my life," Lafferty said. JT Lewis, left, the brother of Sandy Hook victim Jesse Lewis, speaks to President Donald Trump during a roundtable on school safety at the White House on Dec. 18, 2018. Jesse was a lovebug, Lewis says, but its not like that phrase was part of a 6-year-old's everyday vocabulary. I'm fashionably late, baby! Its only this year that he took down his last one the same tree that Jesse helped him set up before the mass shooting. But she went home for the first time since the shooting to choose clothes for Jesse to wear at his funeral. Five other first-graders hid in a closet. Sitting at the witness stand and looking Jones straight in the eyes, Lewis said, "I wanted to tell you to your face. Neil Heslin. ", She added the verdict sends a message that "truth matters. Heslin testified: I cant even describe the last nine and half years of living hell that I and others have had to endure because of the negligence and recklessness of Alex Jones. Lt. Gov. Sandy Hook parents: Alex Jones claims created 'living hell' Heslin says in the episode: I held my son with a bullet hole through his head.. started an organization called Newtown Helps Rwanda and raises money to send orphaned Rwandan genocide survivors to college. He is the older brother of six-year-old Jesse Lewis, [9] who was a first grade student at Sandy Hook Elementary School when he and others were killed in a shooting at the school on December 14, 2012. Published: 00:52 BST, 19 October 2013 | Updated: 14:03 BST, 19 October 2013. Mom of Sandy Hook victim shares her sons message of love, shot to death inside Sandy Hook Elementary School, Jones was ordered to pay Jesse's father, Neil Heslin, and Scarlett $4.1 million, Jones was ordered to pay nearly $1 billion to Sandy Hook families, Sandy Hook survivors reflect with hero teacher 10 years later. Father of 6-year-old killed in Sandy Hook shooting testifies Alex Jones "I can't even describe the last nine and a half years, the living hell that I and others have had to endure because of the recklessness and negligence of Alex Jones," Heslin said. "They shared, and I told them: You know what? Its very important for me to have this trial and the testimony today to hold Alex Jones accountable, he said. Statements by both Infowars and Alex Jones repeatedly have tarnished Jesse., The crux of the trial is a 2017 episode of NBC's Sunday Night With Megyn Kelly, on which Heslin appeared and challenged Jones denial of the shooting. This week. A six-year-old boy courageously gave his life during the Newtown school massacre to save six of his classmates, it was revealed today. Plaintiffs Robbie Parker, left, and Nicole Hockley hug following the reading of the jury awards for damages in the Alex Jones defamation trial at Superior Court in Waterbury, Conn. on Wednesday, October 12, 2022. Lawyers for the parents of two children killed in their Sandy Hook Elementary School classrooms are asking a judge for access to state police evidence to determine whether a substitute teacher . Three years . With her every breath, she works to spread compassion even for his murderer. In 2017, Heslin went on television, he told CBS News,to directly address the Sandy Hook deniers. If we dont get to a billion, Im not going to be happy, he said. Sandy Hook shooting victims remembered | CNN Jones will continue his testimony on Wednesday. Lewis says she has never really allowed herself to consider what her son would be like if he had been given the opportunity to grow into the 16-year-old boy he should be today. Having a 6-year-old son shot in front of his classroom is unbearable and you dont think youre going to survive and then to have someone on top of that perpetuate a lie that it was a hoax, that it was a false flag, Scarlett Lewis said during her testimony. These three words are not in the vernacular of someone Jesse's age and were phonetically spelled because Jesse was still learning to write. And Ive experienced so much.. Scarlett Lewis, whose son Jesse, 6, was killed in the elementary school shooting, rebuked the Infowars fabulist over his lies in a face-to-face courtroom confrontation. RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: What do we want? Yeah I was talking about all the victims and bouncing around the victims. I didn't have the heart totake it down," dad Neil Heslin says. Judges in Texas and Connecticut have already found him liable for defamation for pushing the Sandy Hook hoax claim and issued default judgments against him. "We are now very significant creditors of Alex Jones," Mattei said. [19][20] Choose Love for Athletic Leadership Development is a program for athletes and leaders to incorporate the Choose Love Formula in any sports program to build character and create positive relationships on and off the playing field. WATERBURY A six-member jury awarded eight Sandy Hook families and a federal agent defamed by Alex Jones $965 million in damages and emotional distress in a momentous verdict on Wednesday that came after close to three full days of deliberation. Gottheimer Commemorates Lives Lost Seven Years Ago in Sandy Hook What you're describing is love, and it's still there and he's still all around you. I'm a celebrity get me in there! The parents have asked the jury to award $150 million in compensation for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Its always, every day.. You have, this week. Jones skipped Heslin's morning testimony while he was on his show a move Heslin dismissed as "cowardly" but arrived in the courtroom for part of Scarlett Lewis' testimony. There is one truth, and that's the fact that it happened and we need to do something about it. Father of child killed in Sandy Hook says he experienced 'hell' because of Alex Jones' lies, Alex Jones apologizes to Sandy Hook parent: I never intentionally tried to hurt you. U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., applauded the verdict, but warned it wouldn't alone stop misinformation. Now she devotes her days to spreading a program she thinks could have saved her son, and Adam, from their intertwined fates: it's called social and emotional learning. IE 11 is not supported. Alex Jones ordered to pay $45.2 million in punitive damages: Live JT Lewis - Wikipedia The Jesse Lewis Choose Love program on social and emotional learning has reached more than two million students in more than 100 countries. They are seeking at least $150 million in damages. The nearly $1 billion award in the Waterbury trial is on top of a $49 million judgement to the parents of Jessie Lewis who also died in the shooting issued against Jones by a Texas jury in August in a similar trial. Ten years later, Lewis is still finding rogue figurines. Brother of student killed in Sandy Hook school shooting to run for "Your beliefs do not make something true. Husband William Sherlach was awarded $36 million and FBI agent William Aldenberg was awarded $90 million. After Jesse was killed in the . He also blamed the corporate media several times during his testimony, saying that they lie and misrepresent truths, leading him to question everything reported. After the verdict was read, Nicole Hockley, who lost her son Dylan in the shooting, said she wouldn't miss the grueling days of the trial but would miss being able to speak to the other families. And J.T. The Army set came with a plastic camouflage helmet Jesse wore all day and even to bed.