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Attorneys in Texas and Connecticut who won a group of Sandy Hook families an historic $1.5 billion defamation verdict against Alex Jones last year were awarded the top honor from a nonprofit that fights injustice, corruption and oppression.

“No result in court can undo the harm Jones has done,” said the nonprofit Public Justice in granting its annual Trial Lawyer of the Year award in Philadelphia on Monday. “The results in these cases are a testament to the generosity and bravery of these families, who, even after all they had lost, were willing to face terrifying and powerful opponents to protect other families from what they had suffered.”

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“As a firm this is one of the biggest honors we will probably ever receive from a professional standpoint, but as an attorney and a normal guy my response is I couldn’t be more proud of Mark Bankston for laying the pavement for everybody to follow, not just in the Alex Jones cases but for any … media outlet to understand that the veracity of what you report matters,” said Bill Ogden who helped try Jones’ first defamation awards trial in Texas. “We got a big verdict and then in Connecticut they got a massive one.”

As a result of the big court wins, which Public Justice called “the largest defamation verdict in United States history," Jones filed for personal bankruptcy — a case that continues in a Texas federal court.

"Alex Jones has been restricted in how he can use his revenue and the objective is to collect as much of the judgment as possible to hold him accountable," Mattei said on Tuesday.

Does that mean the harassment has stopped that Sandy Hook families have suffered at the hands of Sandy Hook massacre deniers? Yes and no.

“What we have seen is a pause in at least Jones’ public comments, but as we said at the trial, what he unleased spewed far and wide,” Mattei said. “While we can’t go after every person who Jones poisoned with this lie, what we have done by going after the author is to signal to others that there is an existential financial cost to spreading lies like this.”

Meanwhile a federal judge in Texas has approved a potential agreement between Jones and defamation victims in two more Texas cases, including the case of the parents of a slain Sandy Hook boy Jones defamed. The agreement could substitute a settlement for a third and fourth defamation awards trial.

“If not, we are more than happy and willing to go to trial,” Ogden said of both cases.

For the Sandy Hook families the issue was never about money, Mattei said, but about protecting other families from going through what the Sandy Hook families had to suffer.

“These cases only come about because of the courage of the families who refused to accept that they were powerless to do anything,” Mattei said.

In 2022 Mattei’s firm won the Steven J. Sharp Public Service Award at the American Association of Justice’s annual conference in Seattle for the work by Josh Koskoff and others at the firm to win a $73 million settlement against the bankrupted gun manufacturer Remington.

NEWTOWN, CT — Erica Lafferty has been fighting for changes in the nation's gun laws ever since the death of her mother, Sandy Hook Elementary School principal Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, in the 2012 mass shooting.

But lately, she's been fighting for her life.

Six weeks ago, Lafferty was diagnosed with stage 2 orbital lymphoma. A week later, doctors discovered large masses in her lymph nodes. Based on the orbital tumor's rate of growth, Lafferty said doctors told her, "It's not a matter of if these masses turn into cancer, it is when."

Lafferty's friend Melissa Lewis began a GoFundMe to help pay for the treatments, which can cost up to $7,650 per cycle, according to the fundraising site. As of Monday morning, the campaign has raised $71,053 of its $100,000 goal.

As well as sending Lafferty scrambling for additional revenue, the diagnosis also prompted a drastic change in her diet. She must now eat all raw foods, avoid dairy, and — cruelest cut of all — lay off the pasta.

"You know, you wouldn't know it with a last name like Lafferty, but I'm pretty Italian," she joked. Less funny: Since she has begun "eating fresh," her grocery bill has caught fire.

Shortly after her mother's death, Lafferty began working with Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which later merged with Moms Demand Action to become Everytown for Gun Safety in 2013. Her tireless work advocating for domestic violence laws, secure firearm storage, and state background checks, along with her Sandy Hook lineage, has made hers the go-to soundbite for just about every national network reporting on a school shootings the past 10 years.

'So I reached out to these news outlets and was like, 'Hey, can you share my GoFundMe? You're my friends, I've done everything for you, everything you've asked,' I've never said 'no'.''

The response she received shocked and surprised her.

"I gave them 10 years of my life, and they would not share my GoFundMe, something that essentially is a matter of life and death for me," Lafferty said. "I'm 37 years old, and I walk around my house with a walker, … I'm weak, and I'm tired, and I'm in pain, and I just need some freakin' help. For one time in a decade, I'm asking for something for me."

The "Help Lafferty Beat Lymphoma #SurvivorsSurvive" GoFundMe fundraiser is online her.

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NEWTOWN — Three months after a Greenwich developer withdrew what opponents termed “monstrous” blueprints for 170 apartments next to a slain Sandy Hook girl’s animal sanctuary, designers are drawing revised plans for the “challenging” 14-acre property.

“We are still spending time and money hoping there is an opportunity to do something with that property,” said William Donohue, founder and managing partner of Teton Capital Co., referring to plans to buy land from Newtown on Commerce Road next to the Catherine Violet Hubbard Animal Sanctuary and build a residential campus. “I can’t say when we will resubmit.”

Donahue’s assurance that he’s committed to the project means the possibility is still in play for a $3-to-$4 million deal between Newtown and Teton, depending on how many apartments are approved on land Connecticut conveyed to Newtown to be used for economic development.

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On the other hand, Teton will have to win support from land use review boards who panned Teton’s plans as “out of skew” and “too urban.” And Teton will have to win over Newtown residents who called the proposal “unconscionable,” “a disgrace,” and “an abject demonstration of disrespect.”

At the center of opponents’ concern was Jenny Hubbard, the mother of a girl slain in the 2012 Sandy Hook School mass shooting who founded an animal sanctuary in her daughter’s name. Newtown rallied behind the Sandy Hook mom and railed against Teton’s plan after Hubbard said she had not been consulted about Teton’s “aggressive urban design.”

Hubbard said during a two-hour public hearing in the spring that the project, which called for 152 apartments and 19 villas for seniors, would have “a remarkable negative impact” on her nonprofit’s 34-acre nature preserve.

Donohue’s assurances to opponents during that public hearing in April that “We want to get this right,” and the testimony of Teton’s architect that he had been working for three years on blueprints for the “challenging site” did not appear to move the needle in Teton’s favor.

In May, Donahue withdrew Teton’s plans from the town’s wetlands commission and from the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission, vowing to return with a revised design.

Teton’s May withdrawal marked the third time in a year that public opposition to a major construction proposal played a defining role in taking the blueprints off the table. Teton was the only developer of the three that vowed to come back with a new plan.

In February, the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission voted down a proposal by New York developer Farrell Building Co. to cluster 200 apartments in 11 buildings east of Interstate 84’s Exit 9 after public opposition.

The property in question was next to a larger 100-acre terrain where another New York investor proposed to build an 8-acre trucking warehouse. The same commission voted down that proposal in June, 2022 after widespread neighborhood objection and town-wide protests.

NEW YORK (WABC) -- A Michigan State University student who was on campus during Monday's deadly shooting also has painful personal memories of the Sandy Hook massacre.

Jaqueline Matthews, 21, is originally from Newtown, Connecticut.

She was in 6th grade when the shooting happened in 2012 and attended an intermediate school nearby.

She is currently majoring in international law at MSU.

"I don't ever think you ever get over something so traumatic or so tragic, even if it's not in your community," she said. "I think things like this, people feel and it never really goes away."

Note: This story has been updated to correct the fact that Jaqueline Matthews was not a student at Sandy Hook Elementary school when a mass shooting occurred there in 2012. She attended a nearby intermediate school at the time.

Matthews suffers from a PTSD fracture in her back which she said occurred as the Sandy Hook massacre was happening.

Joe Torres has more on Jaqueline Matthews' experience:

Matthews said she almost never talks about what happened at Sandy Hook on that dark day, but as she watched the carnage and chaos from her window on the MSU campus Monday night, she couldn't stay silent.

Matthews posted on TikTok to express her frustration and concern for the communities.

"I never talk about that topic, but I felt the need to post that video, I was sitting with my roommate, and we were talking about how out of hand this is, and how it's not OK," Matthews said. "Even the kids form Sandy Hook/Newtown, the kids from Stoneman Douglas, their lives don't stop when these things happen. The fact that the odds of me being in both of those places for two mass shootings, is unfortunately, not as unlikely as it is, for other people as well. I think that's why I felt the need to make the video to bring awareness to the fact that, enough is enough. It just needs to end."

Matthews said she is done being scared of the conversation.

WATCH | Official explains impact of grant aimed at curbing gun violence

In fact, according to the Gun Violence Archive, the number of mass shootings in the United States has nearly tripled in the last decade.

Matthews said she is willing to do her part to help put an end to it.

"It's been put in my face too many times, to the point where being scared is no longer an option," Matthews said.

ALSO READ | Michigan State University gunman found with note threatening Ewing, New Jersey schools

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Town officials and representatives of the Sandy Hook Organization for Prosperity (SHOP) gathered to break ground for the Sandy Hook Village Heritage Park at 7 Glen Road on May 18.

The activity kicked off the first phase of construction for the project, said Michael Burton, SHOP president.

“The Heritage Park project has been six years in the making. It is a partnership between the Town, SHOP, and many generous donors,” said Burton. “Collectively, we are transforming a blight into a beautiful asset to the community. It will increase everyone’s property value and give the business community the ability to increase their volumes as a result of increased parking and recreational space.”

A number of town officials attended the ceremonial groundbreaking event, including Selectman Maureen Crick Owen, Legislative Councilman Matt Mihalcik, and Kimberly Chiapetta, representing Newtown’s Economic and Community Development office.

“I’m glad to see this project get off the ground and that it will come to fruition,” said Crick Owen. “It’s added value to Sandy Hook and the town.”

“I think this is a great spot to start the trail,” said Mihalcik. “The American Rescue Plan and Legislative Council funded the sidewalks. This will be a great hub for the whole trail.”

The Heritage Park & Trail in Sandy Hook is planned to be a community space on a piece of town-owned property that SHOP leases for $1 per year. The park will include a pavilion, 30 public parking places, and a green space that extends down to the river.

To date, SHOP has received grants for the project from The State of Connecticut, The Town of Newtown, Flint Ridge Development, and Newtown Savings Bank.

SHOP will continue fundraising for Phase Two of the project: The Heritage Trail, which will include a wayfinding map of the trail locations at the 7 Glen Road location. Burton estimates the group has raised 75 percent of what it needs.

For more information and future fundraising events, visit sandyhookvillage.com.

Associate Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at [email protected].

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Monthly collection of nonperishable donations of food, household cleaners, pet supplies, etc by nondenominational food pantry, volunteers available to assist with unloading vehicles, first Saturday each month; 203-837-0816, [email protected], newtownfoodpantry.org.