The jury hearing the case will determine how much damages Jones will have to pay parents Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, who won a default judgment against him earlier this year. An attorney representing Heslin and Lewis asked a jury last week to award Heslin and Lewis $150 million.
Fighting back tears at times, Heslin told the jury that Jones, through his conspiracy media organization Infowars, had “tarnished the honor and legacy” of his son. Heslin said he can’t “even begin to describe the last nine and a half years of hell” he endured because of Jones.
“There needs to be a strong deterrent to prevent him from spreading this propaganda,” Heslin said, adding that through his testimony he wants to “restore my authority, my reputation and Jesse’s legacy that he so richly deserves.”
As Heslin testified, a television screen in court showed a photo of his slain son, six-year-old Jesse Lewis. Jones, who is expected to testify in his own defense later Tuesday, was absent from the courtroom during Heslin’s testimony and the first part of Lewis’ testimony. Heslin called this absence a “cowardly act.”
“I’ve been here for a week and a half and [during] my final testimony Mr. Alex Jones doesn’t have the guts to sit in front of me or stand up to me,” Heslin said.
A lawyer representing Heslin and Lewis told CNN that the two should be in solitary confinement and under the protection of professional security during the trial.
Heslin also told the stand that the lie pushed by Jones was “resonating around the world” and that he realized “how dangerous” it was.
Heslin described that he has repeatedly encountered those who believed Jones over the past ten years, saying that such interactions occur “to this very day.”
“My life was in danger,” Heslin said. “I fear for my life. I fear for my safety and the safety of my family and their lives.”
“Jesse was real. I am a real mother
In one notable moment in court, Lewis spoke directly to Jones, who was in the courtroom after the case broke for lunch. She said she wanted to address Jones to his face.
“Jesse was real,” Lewis told Jones. “I’m a real mom.”
Lewis told Jones that she thought he didn’t really believe the lies he peddled about Sandy Hook.
“That’s the problem, I know you know it,” Lewis told Jones. “But you keep saying it. Why? Why? For money?”
Lewis said “having a six-year-old son shot in the forehead” while at school was “excruciating pain”.
“And then for someone on top of that to perpetuate the lie that it’s a hoax, that it didn’t happen, that it’s a false flag and that I’m an actress — You think I’m an actress?” Lewis asked.
Lewis told the jury that monetary damages were appropriate in the case because he did not believe Jones would ever stop.
“There was no sincere apology,” she said. “But if there ever was, I liken it to a car accident and you run someone over and you cause massive bodily harm and you look at that person lying on the ground and you say, ‘I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m not responsible for the damage, which I have just caused. But I’m sorry. That’s how I see it.”
Regardless, Lewis said he doesn’t believe Jones understands the implications “of going on the air with a huge audience and lying and calling it a hoax.”
“It seems so incredible that we should do this,” Lewis told Jones. “That we have to plead with you — not just plead with you, punish you — to get you to stop lying… What’s happening here is surreal.”
Lewis also testified in court that she was harassed and received death threats, including in her own home, all of which she said reopened the wounds surrounding her son’s murder.
“Fear, anxiety and uncertainty … keep me from healing,” Lewis said. “It definitely has a negative impact on the healing process.”
Lewis described the Sandy Hook conspiracy theories as “deeply disturbing”.
“I feel compromised,” Lewis said, describing how she feels about her personal safety.
Roy Lubitt, a forensic psychiatrist who was hired to examine Heslin and Lewis, testified in court Monday how terrified and concerned for their personal safety the two parents were.
Lubitt told the court that Lewis and Heslin “are very, very scared”. When asked to specify who they were afraid of, Lubitt replied, “Some follower of Jones is trying to kill them.”
Lubitt said Louis slept with a gun, a knife and pepper spray on her nightstand. Lubitt added that she won’t even turn on the air conditioner on hot days for fear of hearing an intruder possibly coming to hurt her.
Lewis testified Tuesday that she had a gun to protect her other son, telling the jury that she was unable to protect one son and would do everything in her power to ensure no harm came to the other her child.
“This Is Not Your Show”
Jones took the stand in the afternoon, telling the court he felt “good” about being given a chance to hit back at the plaintiffs and the media.
From the stand, Jones told Heslin and Lewis, “I never tried to intentionally hurt you.”
Jones said “the internet has a lot of questions” about the Sandy Hook shooting, and so did he. Jones claims he was just “trying to find out what really happened.”
After jurors left the courtroom after Jones’ testimony, Mark Bankston, the plaintiffs’ attorney, accused Jones and his attorney, Federico Andino Reinal, of trying to “poison” the trial. Bankston said they would file a motion for sanctions against Jones and Reynal.
Bankston specifically said Jones violated court orders when he tried to discuss his net worth from the stand.
“Mr. Jones just deliberately did this in violation of your order to try to poison this damages award to try to tell the jury that he’s broke and he’s not, and that’s in violation of your order,” Bankston told the judge.
Judge Maya Guerra Gamble said she will hear all formally filed motions for sanctions against Jones and Reynal after the trial is over.
But Gamble warned Jones about his behavior and said he had already twice broken his oath to tell the truth.
“Mr. Jones, you cannot tell this jury that you complied with discovery. This is not true. You can’t say it again. You cannot tell this jury that you are bankrupt. That’s not true either,” Gamble said.
“You are now under oath to tell the truth,” Gamble added. “You have already broken that oath twice today, in just these two instances. It seems absurd to instruct you again that you must tell the truth while testifying. And yet here I am again.’
“This is not your show,” Gamble added.
Jones tried to tell Gamble that he believed he was telling the truth.
“You believe everything you say is true, but your beliefs don’t make something true,” Gamble said. “That’s what we do here. Just because you claim to think something is true doesn’t make it true. It doesn’t protect you. It is not allowed. You are under oath. It means that things really have to be true when you say them.”
Other legal developments
Jones has lashed out at the ongoing legal proceedings, falsely claiming last week that he had been tried in Texas before a “kangaroo court”. Infowars also published content attacking the judges overseeing the cases in thinly veiled terms.
Jones’ media company, Free Speech Systems, which is the company that operates Infowars, filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday.
Jury selection for a similar trial involving the Jones and Sandy Hook families began Tuesday in Connecticut, where Jones was also found liable for damages earlier this year. But jury selection was halted after Jones’ lawyers filed in federal court to drop the case for the time being because of Free Speech Systems’ bankruptcy filing.
Attorneys representing some Sandy Hook families have accused Jones of siphoning assets from Free Speech Systems in recent years as part of an effort to protect himself from potential judgments he could be ordered to pay.
One of the lawyers, Avi Moschenberg, told CNN on Tuesday that the bankruptcy filing filed by Free Speech Systems shows that $62 million in assets were withdrawn from the company in 2021 and 2022.
“If you look at the bankruptcy filing leading up to the bankruptcy filing, Alex Jones, the sole owner of [of Free Speech Systems], took $62 million in withdrawals in 2021 and 2022,” Moschenberg told CNN. “Direct withdrawals only. Therefore, the company has few assets.”
An attorney representing Jones did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday morning. But a hearing is scheduled for Wednesday in which W. Marc Schwartz, Free Speech Systems’ chief restructuring officer, is expected to testify.
CNN’s Sonia Moge contributed to this report.
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