Scarlett Lewis, the mother of Jesse Lewis, confronted Alex Jones during his trial. Nell Seiler Carroll, Austin American-Statesman After hearing seven days of evidence and a series of witnesses, jurors began deliberations to determine how much InfoWars host Alex Jones should pay the parents of 6-year-old Sandy Hook shooting victim Jesse Lewis for his campaign to portray the school attack. as a prank. The matter was handed over to the jury late Wednesday afternoon, and state District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble said she doubted they would get past choosing a prosecutor and reading the jury charge before closing court at 5 p.m. The real work begins today. Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis asked jurors for $150 million in actual damages, saying the portrayal of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting as a hoax intended to justify a government crackdown on guns — and parents as liars or collaborators – inspired harassment and death threats from Jones’ followers and made healing from the tragedy impossible. Jones’ attorney, Andino Reynal, asked jurors to award a total of $8 — $1 for each of the eight damages the jury has already found that Jones and his parent company, Free Speech Systems, have caused to Jesse’s parents . More: ‘My son existed.’ Sandy Hook shooting victim’s mother speaks directly to Alex Jones At least 10 of the 12 jurors must agree on a verdict. The four alternates, two more than the regular due to the pandemic and the length of the two-week trial, were fired on Thursday. Before hearing closing arguments Thursday, jurors were told that Jones and Free Speech Systems defamed Heslin in two 2017 InfoWars reports that disputed his claim that he held his dead son and saw the bullet in his head after the shooting . Heslin testified that he made the statement in an NBC interview in hopes of stopping Jones’ campaign and protecting the legacy of his son, who died a hero shouting “Run!” when the gunman stopped. Nine students ran away. Jesse didn’t. More: Alex Jones says trial is ‘kangaroo court’ The jury must determine the amount of money that would fairly compensate Heslin for the past and future damage to his reputation and the past and future mental anguish caused by the defamatory reports. Jurors also said Jones and his company intentionally caused emotional distress to Heslin and Lewis by repeatedly presenting the Sandy Hook shooting as a hoax from 2012 until 2018, when they filed suit. Each parent can be compensated for past and future mental anguish. In his closing remarks, the parents’ attorney Kyle Farrar reminded jurors that they were asked during jury selection whether they could approve damages of $100 million or more. Those who could not were eliminated during the selection process, he said. “This is your chance to hold Alex Jones accountable for the wrong he has done,” Farrar said. Reynal said the parents, experts and their attorneys failed to prove they were actually and directly harmed by Jones’ words. Once jurors reach their verdicts, they will be asked to award punitive damages intended as punishment. First, jurors will hear from the parents’ financial experts about the net worth of Jones and his company. Jones will also testify at that stage, Reynal said. Jones, speaking to reporters outside court Thursday night, was asked if he accepted responsibility for causing pain to Jesse’s family. “I didn’t kill their son,” Jones said. “And certainly questioning this big public thing that happened probably caused them pain, but it wasn’t intentional. And you can’t differentiate their pain from their son’s death with me questioning things and the idea that I’m the ancestor who first thought of all these anomalies are simply not true.” According to the InfoWars video played for jurors, on the day of the shooting, Jones questioned whether the attack was a “false flag” operation, saying it had the makings of an organized operation.