Posted on Jul 25, 2022
Alex Jones' Sandy Hook defamation trial set to finally begin in Texas
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Jury selection is set for Monday in a trial that will determine for the first time how much Infowars host Alex Jones must pay Sandy Hook Elementary School parents for falsely telling his audience that the deadliest classroom shooting in U.S. history was a hoax.
The trial in Austin, Texas — where the conspiracy theorist lives and broadcasts his show — follows months of delays. Jones has racked up fines for ignoring court orders and he put Infowars into bankruptcy protection just before the trial was originally set to start in April.
At stake for Jones is another potentially major financial blow that could put his constellation of conspiracy peddling businesses into deeper jeopardy. He has already been banned from YouTube, Facebook and Spotify over violating hate-speech policies.
The trial involving the parents of two Sandy Hook families is only the start for Jones; damages have yet to be awarded in separate defamation cases for other families of the 2012 massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.
The trial in Austin, Texas — where the conspiracy theorist lives and broadcasts his show — follows months of delays. Jones has racked up fines for ignoring court orders and he put Infowars into bankruptcy protection just before the trial was originally set to start in April.
At stake for Jones is another potentially major financial blow that could put his constellation of conspiracy peddling businesses into deeper jeopardy. He has already been banned from YouTube, Facebook and Spotify over violating hate-speech policies.
The trial involving the parents of two Sandy Hook families is only the start for Jones; damages have yet to be awarded in separate defamation cases for other families of the 2012 massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.
Alex Jones' Sandy Hook defamation trial set to finally begin in Texas
Posted from nbcnews.com
Lawsuit
State of Texas
Conspiracy Theories
Austin
Bankruptcy
Posted 2 y ago
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This snake oil salesman is really out there and deserving of whatever punishment is meted out
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Paying Up
Following the rulings against Jones, the Infowars host attempted to wriggle out of his responsibility to the parents of Sandy Hook by declaring bankruptcy just days before he was set to be put on trial in Austin, Texas, in April for one of his defamation cases.
The bankruptcy ploy worked in delaying the trial, but the law has once again caught up to Jones.
On Monday, a jury in Austin will be selected to determine how much Jones and Infowars will ultimately have to pay to parents Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, Jesse’s mother, for the pain he inflicted on them for more than half a decade after the death of their child.
Opening arguments start Tuesday at Travis County Court, and the trial will be open to the public.
The jury will look at two factors: How much Jones should pay for damages, and how much additional money he should pay based on his net worth. Jones has closely guarded his financial earnings for years, but there are clues that give a glimpse into how much his empire is worth.
For instance, HuffPost reported in January that the Infowars store ― which sells a hodgepodge of dietary supplements and survival gear ― sold $165 million in product from September 2015 to the end of 2018, according to court filings related to one of the defamation lawsuits Jones recently lost.
And in May, the SPLC reported that Jones had received nearly $8 million in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin from an anonymous donor.
Bankston, the attorney representing Heslin and Lewis, told HuffPost an expert witness will be called to testify about Jones’ finances.
Whatever Jones ends up having to pay, it won’t be the end of his financial bleeding. He’ll be back in a courtroom in September, this time in Connecticut, where a jury will determine how much he should pay to Sandy Hook families in a separate defamation lawsuit.
Bankston said that despite a decade of “tormenting” the Sandy Hook parents, Jones will soon face justice.
“After ten years of tormenting these parents, and after four years of trying to sabotage their lawsuit, Mr. Jones will finally face the long-awaited public reckoning for committing the most vile and despicable campaign of slander in American history,” Bankston told HuffPost in a statement. “We are eager to show this jury the previously hidden details of Mr. Jones’ monstrous acts of revenge against the parents who begged him to stop peddling his lies.”
Heslin is determined to get justice in court ― not just monetary compensation for the pain Jones inflicted on his family. Others seem to agree: Every Sandy Hook victim involved in the Connecticut lawsuit rejected Jones’ attempts to avoid a jury when he tried in March to settle the lawsuit by offering $120,000 per plaintiff.
“With me it was never about money – it was about principle,” Heslin told the News-Times in Connecticut at the time. “I’m not surprised Jones would try to settle before this goes to trial, but I am going to trial to fight him. I am going to argue the whole thing.”
..."Paying Up
Following the rulings against Jones, the Infowars host attempted to wriggle out of his responsibility to the parents of Sandy Hook by declaring bankruptcy just days before he was set to be put on trial in Austin, Texas, in April for one of his defamation cases.
The bankruptcy ploy worked in delaying the trial, but the law has once again caught up to Jones.
On Monday, a jury in Austin will be selected to determine how much Jones and Infowars will ultimately have to pay to parents Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, Jesse’s mother, for the pain he inflicted on them for more than half a decade after the death of their child.
Opening arguments start Tuesday at Travis County Court, and the trial will be open to the public.
The jury will look at two factors: How much Jones should pay for damages, and how much additional money he should pay based on his net worth. Jones has closely guarded his financial earnings for years, but there are clues that give a glimpse into how much his empire is worth.
For instance, HuffPost reported in January that the Infowars store ― which sells a hodgepodge of dietary supplements and survival gear ― sold $165 million in product from September 2015 to the end of 2018, according to court filings related to one of the defamation lawsuits Jones recently lost.
And in May, the SPLC reported that Jones had received nearly $8 million in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin from an anonymous donor.
Bankston, the attorney representing Heslin and Lewis, told HuffPost an expert witness will be called to testify about Jones’ finances.
Whatever Jones ends up having to pay, it won’t be the end of his financial bleeding. He’ll be back in a courtroom in September, this time in Connecticut, where a jury will determine how much he should pay to Sandy Hook families in a separate defamation lawsuit.
Bankston said that despite a decade of “tormenting” the Sandy Hook parents, Jones will soon face justice.
“After ten years of tormenting these parents, and after four years of trying to sabotage their lawsuit, Mr. Jones will finally face the long-awaited public reckoning for committing the most vile and despicable campaign of slander in American history,” Bankston told HuffPost in a statement. “We are eager to show this jury the previously hidden details of Mr. Jones’ monstrous acts of revenge against the parents who begged him to stop peddling his lies.”
Heslin is determined to get justice in court ― not just monetary compensation for the pain Jones inflicted on his family. Others seem to agree: Every Sandy Hook victim involved in the Connecticut lawsuit rejected Jones’ attempts to avoid a jury when he tried in March to settle the lawsuit by offering $120,000 per plaintiff.
“With me it was never about money – it was about principle,” Heslin told the News-Times in Connecticut at the time. “I’m not surprised Jones would try to settle before this goes to trial, but I am going to trial to fight him. I am going to argue the whole thing.”
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