AUSTIN, Texas — In a brutal cross-examination on Wednesday in the trial of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, an attorney for Sandy Hook parents produced text messages from Mr. Jones’ cell phone showing that he had withheld important evidence in defamation lawsuits which had been filed by the families for lies he had spread about the 2012 school shooting.
The messages were apparently incorrectly sent to the families’ lawyers by Mr. jones.
“Mr. Jones, did you know that 12 days ago your lawyers screwed up and sent me a full digital copy of your entire cell phone with every text message you sent over the past two years? asked Mr. Jones.
The text messages were important because Mr. Jones had claimed for years that he had searched his phone for texts about the Sandy Hook cases and found none.
“You know what perjury is, right?” Mr. Bankston asked Mr. Jones, who indicated so.
The disclosure of the texts provided a striking capstone to the final day of testimony in a trial to determine how much Mr. Jones has ordered the parents of a child killed in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., to pay for broadcast. conspiracy theories that the shooting was a hoax and that the families were “actors.” The jury began deliberations late Wednesday.
The texts also revealed that Mr Jones had been warned about the posting of a false report on the coronavirus by an employee who called the report “another Sandy Hook” for spreading misinformation about an event.
He acknowledged the staff member’s concerns, 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 Capitol attack, so the lyrics may be of interest to the Jan. 6 House Committee.
“We fully intend to work with law enforcement and U.S. government officials interested in seeing these materials,” said Mr. Bankston.
The file containing the texts of Mr. Jones is part of a series of material related to the Sandy Hook cases wrongly delivered to the families’ lawyers. mr. Bankston estimated that the files made to him by Mr. Jones were forwarded, containing several hundred gigabytes of material.
Mr Bankston, who represents Sandy Hook parents Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin at the trial, also revealed new evidence that Mr Jones had failed to produce court-ordered documents related to lies he allegedly made. spread about the mass shooting and its victims. Visibly uncomfortable for most of the 40-minute cross-examination, sweat ran down his eyes and down his neck, Mr. Jones said he believed “100 percent” the shooting had taken place.
Mr Bankston also presented financial data that contradicted Mr Jones’ sworn allegation on Tuesday that he was bankrupt, and clips from his broadcast defaming the judge and jury in the case.
Mr Jones lost last year four defamation cases brought against him by the families of 10 victims of the shooting, which killed 20 first-graders and six teachers.
Mr. Jones lost those cases by default after nearly four years of litigation during which he failed to produce documents and testimony ordered by courts in Texas and Connecticut. That triggered three lawsuits for damages; the one in Austin this week is the first.
During his testimony on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, Mr. Jones continued to insist that he had complied with court orders to submit documents and testimony in the run-up to the defamation trials. In fact, by default, his losses stemmed from his failure to produce those materials.
He also tried repeatedly to claim that his right to free speech protected him. But by failing in the defamation cases for failing to comply with the discovery by withholding documents and testimony, he lost the opportunity to test that claim at trial. The current trial and the two upcoming trials are only to decide the amount he must pay the families in damages.
The judge admonished Mr Jones and his attorney, F. Andino Reynal, after the Infowars fabulist lied about the case under oath on Tuesday. The judge also reprimanded Mr Jones for telling the jury he was bankrupt when his bankruptcy filing was due to be reviewed last week; the family’s lawyers say it is his latest attempt to delay pending compensation proceedings. A federal bankruptcy court in Texas ruled that the current trial could continue, but the others have been postponed for now.
In court on Wednesday, Mr. Bankston produced financial data showing that Mr. Jones made a staggering $800,000 a day in sales for the past several years by selling nutritional supplements, weaponry and survival equipment in advertisements on his broadcasts. mr. Jones tried to accuse the families’ lawyers of picking the most lucrative daily income, but he was silenced by the judge.
Mr. Bankston also produced clips from Mr. Jones’ Infowars, in which he broadcast a copy of a photo of the judge in the case of Mrs. Lewis and Mr. Heslin, Maya Guerra Gamble, engulfed in flames.
“That’s justice that burns,” a frightened Mr. Jones said to Mr. Bankston.
In another broadcast, Infowars falsely linked the judge to pedophilia and human trafficking; in another place, Mr. Jones questioned the intelligence of the jurors in the case, suggesting that his political enemies had “manual workers” handpicked people who “don’t know what planet they are on” and ill-equipped to decide what monetary damages he should pay Mrs. Lewis and Mr. Heslin. In written questions submitted to Mr. Jones, the judges immediately disagreed with that characterization.
“Do you know that this jury is made up of 16 intelligent, honest citizens who are not inappropriately influenced in any way?” one wrote to Mr Jones.
“I don’t think you’re cops,” Mr. Jones replied.
Mrs. Lewis and Mr. Heslin are seeking $150 million in damages from Mr. Jones. But more than money, they have said the case is an opportunity to alert Americans to the societal damage caused by the viral spread of disinformation in the decade since Sandy Hook.
In closing remarks on Wednesday, Mr. Jones’s attorney said he was willing to pay a single dollar to Ms. Lewis and Mr. Heslin for each of the eight defamation claims.