AUSTIN, Texas – In brutal cross-examination Wednesday in the trial of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, a lawyer for Sandy Hook’s parents pulled text messages from Mr. Jones’ cellphone showing he hid key evidence in defamation lawsuits , sued by families for lies he spread about the 2012 school shooting.
The messages were apparently sent to the families’ lawyers in error by Mr Jones’ legal team.
“Mr. Jones, did you know that 12 days ago your lawyers messed up and sent me an entire digital copy of your entire cell phone with every text message you’ve sent in the last two years?” the parents’ lawyer, Mark Bankston, asked Mr. Jones.
The text messages were important because Mr. Jones has claimed for years that he searched his phone for texts about the Sandy Hook cases and found nothing.
“You know what perjury is, don’t you?” Mr Bankston asked Mr Jones, who indicated he had.
The revelation of the texts provided a stunning conclusion to the final day of testimony in a trial to determine how much Mr. Jones should pay the parents of a child killed in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., for airing conspiracy theories , that the shooting was a hoax and that the families were “actors.” The jury began deliberating late Wednesday.
The texts also reveal that Mr Jones was warned about publishing a false report about the coronavirus by a staff member calling the report “another Sandy Hook” for spreading misinformation about an event.
He acknowledged the employee’s concern, but Mr Bankston said the false report remained live on his Infowars website on Wednesday.
Mr. Jones is also under scrutiny for his role in planning events surrounding the attack on the Capitol, so the texts may be of interest to a House committee on Jan. 6.
“We fully intend to cooperate with law enforcement and US government officials who are interested in these materials,” Mr. Bankston said.
The file containing Mr. Jones’ texts was part of a trove of material related to the Sandy Hook cases mistakenly delivered to the families’ lawyers. Mr Bankston estimated that the files given to him in apparent error by Mr Jones’ lawyers contained several hundred gigabytes of material.
Mr. Bankston, who represented Sandy Hook parents Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin at trial, also revealed new evidence about Mr. Jones’ failure to produce court-ordered documents related to the lies he spread about the mass shooting and her victims. Visibly uncomfortable for most of the 40-minute cross-examination, with sweat pouring into his eyes and down his neck, Mr. Jones said he “100 percent” believed the shooting happened.
Mr. Bankston also submitted financial documents that contradicted Mr. Jones’ claim under oath on Tuesday that he was bankrupt, as well as clips of his broadcasts defaming the judge and jury in the case.
Mr. Jones lost four defamation lawsuits last year brought against him by the families of 10 victims of the shooting, which killed 20 first-graders and six educators.
Mr. Jones lost those cases by default after nearly four years of litigation in which he failed to produce documents and testimony ordered by courts in Texas and Connecticut. This set off three lawsuits for compensation; the one in Austin this week is the first.
In testimony Tuesday and Wednesday morning, Mr. Jones continued to insist he had complied with court orders to produce documents and testimony ahead of the defamation trials. In fact, his default losses resulted from his failure to produce these materials.
He also repeatedly tried to argue that his right to free speech protected him. But by not participating in the defamation cases, because he failed to comply with discovery by withholding documents and testimony, he lost the opportunity to test that claim at trial. The current trial and the two upcoming trials should only decide the amount he should pay the families as compensation.
The judge admonished Mr. Jones and his lawyer, F. Andino Reynal, after the Infowars author lied about the matter under oath on Tuesday. The judge also chastised Mr. Jones for telling the jury he was bankrupt when his bankruptcy filing last week was still pending; Lawyers for the families say this is his latest attempt to delay the upcoming benefits process. A federal bankruptcy court in Texas has ruled that the current lawsuit can proceed, but the others are being delayed for now.
In court on Wednesday, Mr. Bankston presented financial documents showing that Mr. Jones had earned about $800,000 a day in recent years by selling dietary supplements, gun accessories and survival gear in advertisements accompanying his shows. Mr Jones tried to accuse the families’ lawyers of pocketing the most lucrative daily earnings, but was silenced by the judge.
Mr. Bankston also produced clips from Mr. Jones’ Infowars show, in which he aired a copy of a photo of the judge in Ms. Lewis and Mr. Heslin’s case, Maya Guerra Gamble, engulfed in flames.
“It’s a burning of justice,” said the fearful Mr. Jones to Mr. Bankston.
In another broadcast, Infowars falsely linked the judge to pedophilia and human trafficking; in another, Mr. Jones questioned the intelligence of the jurors in the case, suggesting that his political enemies had hand-picked “blue-collar” people who “didn’t know what planet they were on” and weren’t equipped to decide what monetary damages must be paid to Ms. Lewis and Mr. Heslin. In written questions sent to Mr. Jones, jurors immediately took issue with that characterization.
“Do you know that this jury is made up of 16 intelligent, fair-minded citizens who are not unduly influenced in any way?” one wrote to Mr. Jones.
“I don’t think you are operatives,” replied Mr. Jones.
Ms. Lewis and Mr. Heslin are seeking $150 million in damages from Mr. Jones. But more than money, they said, the case represents an opportunity to warn Americans about the public harm wrought by the viral spread of disinformation in the decade since Sandy Hook.
In closing arguments on Wednesday, Mr. Jones’ lawyer said he was willing to pay Ms. Lewis and Mr. Heslin one dollar each for each of the eight defamation claims.
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