AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The detective leading the investigation into the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting testified Tuesday that there are three types of people who deny it happened and harass victims’ families: the mentally ill, those who believe bad or incomplete information and those who knew the truth but twisted it for their own “power or money”.
Investigators place conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in this latter group.
“They were the most dangerous. That’s where we put Alex Jones,” Connecticut State Police Detective Daniel Jewis told a jury on the first day of testimony in a Texas trial to determine how much Infowars host Jones owes for defamation of parents of one of the children killed in the deadliest school shooting in American history.
“It’s absolutely horrific the amount of trauma they’ve had to go through after losing a loved one,” said Juice, who called supporting Sandy Hook families the “most honorable” thing he’s ever been a part of.
Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose 6-year-old son Jesse was killed in the Newtown, Conn., school shooting, are seeking $150 million for emotional distress and reputational damage Jones caused them, and more money for punitive damages, their attorney Mark Bankston told the court during his opening statement as Jones looked on, shaking his head at times.
Jones repeatedly “lied and attacked the parents of murdered children” when he told his Infowars audience that the shooting was a hoax, Bankston said. He created a “massive campaign of lies” and recruited “wild extremists from the fringes of the Internet … who were as violent as Mr. Jones wanted them to be” to the families of the 20 first-graders and six teachers who were killed, he said the lawyer.
Jones capitalized on the explosive popularity of Sandy Hook conspiracy stories, which became an “obsession” for the website even years after the shooting, said Bankston, who released videos of Jones claiming on his program that the shooting was a hoax and “the whole something was completely false. … It just didn’t happen.”
Anticipating that Jones’ lawyers would argue that what Jones said about Sandy Hook was speech protected by the First Amendment — Jones arrived in court wearing tape over his mouth with the message “Save the 1st” printed on it — Bankston told the jury, “This has nothing to do with the Constitution. Defamation is not protected by free speech. … Speech is free, but you have to pay for lies.”
During the defense’s opening statements, Jones’ attorney Andino Reynal called Jones one of the “most polarizing figures in this nation” who made statements about Sandy Hook “that we do not dispute are wrong.” But he said Jones had already been punished for those statements when he was kicked out of Facebook, YouTube, Spotify and Twitter for violating their hate speech policies.
Jones is “already undone” and has lost millions of dollars, said Reynal, who urged the jury to limit damages to $1.
Reynal painted a picture of a talk show host who “tries to give an alternative point of view” but who is deceived by some of his guests.
“Alex Jones was wrong to believe these people, but he didn’t do it out of malice. He did it because he believed it. … He believed that a citizen had the right to go on Infowars and talk about what their issues were,” Reynal said.
He also called the case important for free speech.
“I believe in his right to say it, and I believe in the right of every American to choose what to watch, listen to and believe,” Reynal said.
Between opening statements from both sides, Jones left the courtroom to rant to reporters, calling it a “kangaroo court” and a “show trial,” an attack on the First Amendment. He did not return to the courtroom for the afternoon opening of testimony, which included Infowars producer Daria Karpova.
Jones’ media company scheduled Karpova to testify about Infowars’ audience reach and some of the videos the website produced after the Sandy Hook shooting. The trial took a break for the rest of the day before she completed scheduled testimony.
Jurors could deal Jones a serious financial blow that would put his constellation of conspiracy traders in greater jeopardy. In addition to being banned from major social media platforms, he claims to be millions of dollars in debt, a claim the plaintiffs deny.
A court in Texas and another in Connecticut found Jones liable for defamation for his portrayal of the Sandy Hook massacre as a hoax involving actors seeking to increase gun control. In both states, judges ruled against Jones without trial because he failed to respond to subpoenas and turn over documents.
In total, the families of eight Sandy Hook victims and an FBI agent who responded to the school are suing Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems.
Jones then admitted the shooting took place. During testimony in April, Jones insisted he was not responsible for the suffering Sandy Hook parents say they suffered because of the fraud conspiracy, including death threats and harassment from Jones’ followers.
Jones said in court records last year that he has a negative net worth of $20 million, but attorneys for the Sandy Hook families have painted a different financial picture.
Court records show that Jones’ Infowars store, which sells nutritional supplements and survival gear, made more than $165 million between 2015 and 2018. Jones also urged listeners to his Infowars program to donate money.
Tribal began Monday in Austin, Texas — where Jones lives and broadcasts his show — after months of delays. It also comes about two months after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, which is about 145 miles (235 kilometers) southwest of Austin. It was the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook.
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