July 26 (Reuters) – U.S. conspiracy theorist Alex Jones led a “vile smear campaign” when he falsely claimed the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax, a Texas jury was told on Tuesday , but a lawyer for Jones said his client had already done so. paid a price
Attorney Mark Bankston, who represents the parents of dead 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, made the plea at the start of a jury trial to decide how much Jones must pay for spreading falsehoods about the 20-year-old’s murder children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary. School in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012.
Jones, founder of the Infowars webcast and radio show, had claimed that the mainstream media and gun control activists conspired to fabricate the tragedy. He said the shooting was done with crisis actors, but later acknowledged it took place.
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“Mr. Jones was continually producing this idea that Sandy Hook was fake,” Bankston told jurors. He said Jones and Infowars were responsible for the “most despicable and vile campaign of smear and slander in American history.”
Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, Jesse’s parents, are seeking $150 million in compensatory and punitive damages for what they say was a campaign of harassment and death threats by Jones’ followers.
Federico Reynal, Jones’ lawyer, acknowledged that Infowars had spread false information, but said his client had the right to question the main narratives of his show. He said Jones had lost millions of viewers since going off the social media platform in 2018.
Right-wing media personality Alex Jones appears on screen during a public hearing of the US House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, 12 July of 2022. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/ File photo
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“He’s sorry for what he did and he’s paying a price for it,” Reynal said.
Judge Maya Guerra Gamble of Austin, Texas, who is overseeing the trial, issued a rare default judgment in 2021, finding Jones liable without trial after he ignored court orders and failed to turn over documents.
The defamation suit in Texas, where Infowars is based, is one of several filed by families of victims who say they were harassed by Jones’ supporters and suffered emotional distress after claiming the shooting was starring
Jones and his company Free Speech Systems LLC are the defendants in the case.
The trial for damages after months of delays. Three entities related to Infowars filed for bankruptcy in a case that has since been dismissed. Families of Sandy Hook victims had said the bankruptcy was a sinister attempt by Jones to shield his assets from liability from defamation lawsuits.
Jones, who was present in the courtroom, will face trial in September in a similar defamation suit in Connecticut state court, where he has also been found liable for defamation in a default judgment.
Sandy Hook gunman Adam Lanza, 20, used a Remington Bushmaster rifle to carry out the massacre. It ended when Lanza killed himself with the approach of police sirens.
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Report by Jack Queen; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Howard Goller
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