AUSTIN, Texas – In brutal cross-examination Wednesday in the trial of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, a lawyer for the Sandy Hook parents produced text messages from Mr. Jones’ cellphone that showed he had withheld key evidence in the lawsuits defamation presented by the families. for the lies he had spread about the 2012 school shooting.
The messages were apparently mistakenly sent to the families’ lawyers by Mr. Jones.
“Mr. Jones, did you know that 12 days ago, your lawyers screwed me over and sent me an entire digital copy of your entire cell phone with all the text messages you’ve sent over the past two years? The parents’ lawyer, Mark Bankston, asked Mr. Jones.
The text messages were significant 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 yes.
The release of the texts provided a surprising ending to the final day of testimony in a trial to determine how much Mr. Jones must pay the parents of a boy who died in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., for the broadcast. conspiracy theories that the shooting was a hoax and that the families were “actors.” The jury began deliberating Wednesday afternoon.
The texts also revealed that Mr Jones was warned about the publication of a fake report on the coronavirus by a staff member who called the report “another Sandy Hook” to spread misinformation about an event.
He acknowledged the staff member’s concerns, but Mr. Bankston said the fake report was still live on his Infowars website Wednesday.
Mr. Jones is also under scrutiny for his role in planning events surrounding the attack on the Capitol, so the texts could be of interest to the Jan. 6 House committee.
“We fully intend to cooperate with law enforcement and U.S. government officials interested in viewing these materials,” Mr. Bankston.
The archive with the texts of Mr. Jones is part of a series of material related to the Sandy Hook cases mistakenly given to the families’ lawyers. Mr. Bankston estimated that the files that Mr. Jones transmitted to him in apparent error contained several hundred gigabytes of material.
Mr. Bankston, who is representing Sandy Hook parents Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin in the trial, also revealed new evidence of the failure of Mr. Jones to produce court-ordered documents related to the lies he spread about the mass shooting and its victims. Visibly uncomfortable for most of the 40-minute cross-examination, sweat pouring from his eyes and neck, Mr. Jones said he “100 percent” believed the shooting happened.
Mr. Bankston also produced financial records that contradicted Mr. Jones under oath Tuesday that he was bankrupt, and clips from his broadcasts defaming the judge and jury in the case.
Mr. Jones last year lost four defamation cases 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 in motion three lawsuits for damages; Austin’s this week is first.
In testimony on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, Mr. Jones continued to insist that he had complied with court orders to produce documents and testimony before the libel trials. In fact, their default losses were the result of their failure to produce these materials.
He also repeatedly tried to claim that his right to free speech protected him. But by defaulting in the defamation cases because it failed to comply with discovery by withholding documents and witnesses, it lost the opportunity to prove that claim at trial. The current trial and the next two are just to decide the amount he has to pay the families in damages.
The judge admonished Mr. Jones and his lawyer, F. Andino Reynal, after the Infowars fabulist 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 has not yet been adjudicated; lawyers for the families say it’s their last-ditch attempt to delay upcoming damages trials. A federal bankruptcy court in Texas ruled that the current trial could continue, but the others are being delayed for now.
Wednesday in court, Mr. Bankston produced financial records indicating that Mr. Jones was earning up to $800,000 a day in recent years selling dietary supplements, gun paraphernalia and survival gear in commercials accompanying his broadcasts. Mr Jones tried to accuse the families’ lawyers of collecting the more lucrative daily earnings, but the judge silenced him.
Mr. Bankston also produced clips from Mr. Infowars. Jones in which he issued a copy of a photograph of the judge in the case of Ms. Lewis and Mr. Heslin, Maya Guerra Gamble, surrounded by flames.
“This is burning justice,” a cowering Mr. Jones told 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 “don’t know what planet they’re on” and were ill-equipped to decide. what monetary damages he must pay to Mrs. Lewis and Mr. Heslin. In the written questions submitted to Mr. Jones, the jurors had an immediate problem with this characterization.
“Do you know that this jury is made up of 16 intelligent, fair-minded citizens who are not being improperly influenced in any way?” one wrote to mr. Jones.
“I don’t think you’re operatives,” replied Mr. Jones.
Ms. Lewis and Mr. Heslin is seeking $150 million in damages from Mr. Jones. But more than money, they have said the case represents an opportunity to alert Americans to the social damage posed by the viral spread of disinformation in the decade since Sandy Hook.
In closing statements on Wednesday, Mr. Jones said he was willing to pay a single dollar to Ms. Lewis and Mr. Heslin on each of the eight defamation claims.