Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones repeatedly “lied and attacked the parents of murdered children” when he told his Infowars audience that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax, an attorney for one of the victim’s parents said Tuesday at the outset of a civil trial to determine how much Jones must pay for defaming them.
The jury in the Texas capital could deal Jones a major financial blow that would put his constellation of conspiracy peddling businesses into deeper jeopardy. He has already been banned from YouTube, Facebook and Spotify for violating their hate-speech policies and he claims he’s millions of dollars in debt – a claim the plaintiffs reject.
During his opening statement, plaintiffs’ attorney Mark Bankston said Jones created a “massive campaign of lies” and recruited “wild extremists from the fringes of the internet … who were as cruel as Mr. Jones wanted them to be” to the families of the 26 people who were killed in the 2012 attack on the Newtown, Connecticut, school, including 20 first-graders and six educators.
Jones tapped into the explosive popularity of Sandy Hook conspiracy stories that became an “obsession” for the website, even years after the shooting, said Bankston, who played video clips of Jones claiming on his program that the shooting was a hoax and “the whole thing was completely fake. … It just didn’t happen.”
Anticipating Jones’ attorney’s expected strategy, Bankston told the jury, “This has nothing to do with the Constitution. Defamation is not protected by freedom of speech. … Speech is free, but lies you have to pay for.”
He said his clients will ask for $150 million for emotional distress and reputational damage and more money in punitive damages.
Jones was in the courtroom Tuesday and only rarely seemed interested in watching the video clips of himself played for the jury. He sometimes fidgeted in his seat and occasionally shook his head while listening to the case being laid out against him.
Immediately after the plaintiffs’ opening statement, Jones stepped outside of the courtroom to rant to reporters, calling it a “kangaroo court” and “show trial” that was an assault on the First Amendment.
Among those expected to testify Tuesday are Daniel Jewiss, who was the Connecticut State Police lead investigator of Sandy Hook, and Daria Karpova, a producer at Infowars.
In questioning the jury pool on Monday, Jones’ attorney Andino Reynal acknowledged that Jones is a “very polarizing” and “controversial” figure, but he also said he’d ask the jury to cap the damages at $1.
During jury selection, most in the 100-person jury pool raised their hands when asked if they had heard of Jones, and nearly two dozen agreed when Reynal asked who among them had a “firm negative impression” of him.
“We’re very happy with the jury we’ve seated,” Reynal said. “It’s a very important First Amendment case. On trial right now is not just people’s freedom of speech, but it’s also people’s freedom to listen. To choose what they watch on television, to make those choices for themselves, instead of having a personal injury lawyer make those choices for them.”
The Texas court and another in Connecticut found Jones liable for defamation for his portrayal of the Sandy Hook massacre as a hoax involving actors aimed at increasing gun control. In both states, the judges issued default judgements against Jones without trials because he failed to respond to court orders and turn over documents.
In total, the families of eight of the Sandy Hook victims and an FBI agent who responded to the school are suing Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems.
Jones has since acknowledged that the shooting took place. During a deposition in April, Jones insisted he wasn’t responsible for the suffering that Sandy Hook parents say they have endured because of the hoax conspiracy, including death threats and harassment by Jones’ followers.
Jones claimed in court records last year that he had a negative net worth of $20 million, but attorneys for 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 has also urged listeners on his Infowars program to donate money.
The Texas trial begins about two months after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, which is about 145 miles southwest of Austin. It was the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook.
Topics Lawsuits
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