Why the false flag conspiracist is being sued by the victims’ households

Hours after 26 individuals had been shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, Alex Jones started spouting false claims that the bloodbath wasn’t actual.

More than 10 years later, the far-right conspiracy theorist’s inflammatory feedback have continued to hang-out him as households of the taking pictures victims – 20 of which had been younger kids – maintain him accountable in courtroom.

Following a number of makes an attempt from the Infowars host to delay and derail justice, his time is lastly up.

On 26 July 2022, Mr Jones’ defamation trial lastly started in a Texas courtroom, with a 12-person jury and 4 alternates listening to testimony from individuals who labored on his present, the dad and mom of a kid who was killed and the Infowars host himself.

At the conclusion of the testimony, the jury can be tasked with deciding how a lot Mr Jones should pay to 2 of the victims’ households for the harm his lies brought on them.

Though the lawsuits don’t ask for a certain amount, attorneys for the households advised they may search $150m or extra in compensatory and punitive damages.

The trial comes off the again of a dramatic few months the place Mr Jones was held in contempt of courtroom for failing to look twice for a deposition and filed for chapter to attempt to delay paying up.

Now, with the trial lastly below manner, right here’s what you might want to know concerning the years-long authorized battle between the far-right persona and the households of the victims of one of many worst mass shootings in American historical past:

What occurred at Sandy Hook?

On 14 December 2012, 26 individuals had been shot and killed at  Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

That morning, 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot useless his mom at their dwelling after which drove her automotive to the general public faculty for kindergarten via fourth grade college students, armed with 4 firearms.

He murdered 20 college students aged simply six and 7 years outdated and 6 workers members earlier than turning a gun on himself.

The bloodbath – which stays the worst crime in trendy Connecticut historical past 9 years on – ignited requires stricter gun controls within the US.

What did Alex Jones do?

As the households had been left to bury their young children, far-right conspiracy theorist Mr Jones pushed false claims that the mass taking pictures – and their murders – by no means even occurred.

He even claimed the six and seven-year-olds being mourned by no means even existed.

Through his radio present and web site Infowars, he claimed that the bloodbath was as a substitute a “false flag” operation engineered by the federal government to result in stricter gun management legal guidelines and take away Second Amendment rights.

He claimed that the occasion was “staged” and “completely fake”, carried out by “actors” as a “giant hoax”.

His conspiracy theories started lower than two hours after the mass taking pictures came about on 14 December 2012.

“There is a reported school shooting in Connecticut – one of the states that has draconian restrictions on gun ownership… The media will hype the living daylights out of this,” he instructed his listeners.

“Why do governments stage these things? To get our guns!”

Months later, in April 2013, he claimed the proof the bloodbath was staged was “overwhelming”.

For years he continued to push the false claims, sharing one video entitled “Sandy Hook Vampires Exposed”, the place he claimed that“they had porta potties being delivered an hour after it happened, for the big media event”.

He additional doubled down on his feedback in a controversial interview with Megyn Kelly in 2017.

In 2019, Mr Jones appeared to stroll again his claims admitting in a deposition that he accepted that the bloodbath was actual and blaming “a form of psychosis” for his ever questioning it.

However, he continued to insist there have been “anomalies” within the account of occasions and that there had been a “cover-up”.

Impact on the households

Besides coping with their unspeakable grief, Mr Jones’ lies took a heavy toll on the households of the victims.

Many had been subjected to years of in-person and on-line harassment and threats from his followers, memorials had been defaced and a number of other households moved from the world to get away from the torment.

In 2014, Andrew David Truelove was arrested for stealing memorial indicators for the useless kids and telling the dad and mom they shouldn’t care as a result of their kids didn’t exist within the first place.

In 2020, former Infowars contributor Wolfgang Halbig was lastly arrested after spending years allegedly harassing the grieving households and members of the Newtown group, claiming their useless kids had been performed by “crisis actors”.

Police stated Mr Halbig repeatedly contacted a number of households together with Leonard Pozner, whose son Noah was murdered within the mass taking pictures, launched their private info on-line and emailed them photographs claiming to be of their useless kids.

Meanwhile, Mr Jones financially profited from spreading the lies via his Infowars present.

The authorized battles

In 2018, a complete of 10 households of victims filed 4 defamation lawsuits in Texas – the place Infowars relies – and Connecticut in opposition to Mr Jones and Infowars over his false claims.

Last yr, judges in all 4 instances dominated that the households had received the defamation instances and that Mr Jones was responsible by default for failing to offer proof.

Dodging deposition

Mr Jones was set to testify below oath on 23 and 24 March as a part of the settlement proceedings.

His attorneys had made a last-ditch try to delay the questioning below oath, claiming he was too sick to attend on account of unnamed “medical conditions” and that docs had suggested him to stay at dwelling.

Connecticut Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis turned down his requests to delay, partly as a result of he was seemingly properly sufficient to proceed broadcasting his hours-long present – leaving his dwelling on at the very least one event to journey to his studio to movie it. He subsequently defied courtroom orders by failing to indicate up for the depositions each days.

It later emerged that the physician who suggested him that he was too unwell to attend the deposition was the identical physician who appeared on his present on 21 March to assault the Covid-19 vaccines as “poison” and name the US’s prime physician Dr Anthony Fauci “the greatest mass murderer in the history of the world”.

After he missed the deposition for a second time, the attorneys representing the victims’ households urged the decide to seek out Mr Jones in contempt of courtroom and have him arrested. Attorney Christopher Mattei referred to as Mr Jones’ failure to look a “cowardly attempt … to escape accountability for the years he spent spreading lies about Sandy Hook” in a press release to The Independent.

Mr Jones defended himself in opposition to the plaintiffs’ efforts to have him arrested in a pre-recorded video on his Infowars web site on 24 February – the identical day he stated he was too unwell to attend the second deposition date.

Titled “Sandy Hook mafia calls for Alex Jones’ arrest: Legendary talk show host responds”, he claimed he was being handled worse than loss of life row prisoners.

“Somebody on death row is allowed to go get their medical treatment and hearings and things are postponed but I’m treated worse than somebody on death row,” he stated.

He didn’t element the character of his well being points saying that they’re “private”.

Lawyers for the far-right conspiracy theorist made their case for why Mr Jones shouldn’t be sanctioned in a courtroom submitting on 28 March, arguing that sitting for the deposition would trigger him “significant stress” and accusing the plaintiffs of “blatantly” asking the decide to overrule his docs.

Mr Jones’ lawyer Norman Pattis cited the coronavirus pandemic in stressing the significance of trusting docs – one thing Mr Jones has balked at up to now as he repeatedly downplayed the seriousness of the virus and doubted the reliability of vaccines on his Infowars present.

Rejected settlement provide

The evening earlier than the contempt listening to on 31 March, Mr Jones’ authorized crew submitted a settlement proposal that would come with a “heartfelt apology” and $120,000 payout per plaintiff.

“It’s time for the litigation to end,” Mr Pattis instructed Law&Crime. “The shooting took place almost 10 years ago.”

Lawyers for the households shortly shut down the provide, calling it a “transparent and desperate attempt by Alex Jones to escape a public reckoning under oath with his deceitful, profit-driven campaign against the plaintiffs and the memory of their loved ones lost at Sandy Hook.”

Mr Jones then issued a press release attacking the households for refusing his provide.

“The Sandy Hook shootings are almost a decade behind us. It’s time to put this case behind us, too. Most of the families affected never joined the suits; those who have are no doubt weary of it. The world is on the cusp of war and all the ambulance chasers care about is hatred,” a bit of the prolonged assertion reads.

Contempt of courtroom and fines

On 31 March, Judge Bellis granted the request to carry Mr Jones in contempt of courtroom after doubling down on her discovering that the proof on his illnesses was inadequate.

The decide stated she would purge the contempt if he sat for the deposition by 10 April however stated Mr Jones can be slapped with escalating fines beginning at $25,000 for every day he failed to sit down for the deposition.

Lawyers for the Infowars host filed a movement asking Judge Bellis to rethink the fines in mild of a newly-scheduled deposition on 11 April – arguing that it was unfair to require him to “pay fines totaling potentially $1.65 million for relying on a doctor’s note to not attend a deposition”.

While his attorneys argued in opposition to the fines in courtroom, Mr Jones attacked the decide on his radio present calling her a liar and a “thing”.

Mr Jones then lastly sat for his two-day deposition on 5 and 6 April.

On his Infowars web site, he stated he sat for 10 hours, claiming he was “demonised” within the course of.

He paid $75,000 in fines for the delayed deposition — $25,000 on Friday 1 April and $50,000 on Monday 4 April, in response to the courtroom information.

However, on 14 April, Judge Bellis ordered that the cash be returned to Mr Jones as a result of he had confirmed up at his rescheduled deposition.

Bankruptcy

In one other twist within the saga, Jones started what seemed to be his newest try to delay paying out for the defamation lawsuits when he filed for chapter on 17 April for 3 entities he owns, together with his radio present Infowars, claiming liabilities of as a lot as $10m every.

The far-right radio present – which he used as a mouthpiece for his lies concerning the mass taking pictures – filed for voluntary Chapter 11 chapter safety within the Southern District of Texas, in response to courtroom filings.

The Chapter 11 chapter courtroom submitting listed Infowars’ estimated belongings within the vary of $0-$50,000 (£38,375), with estimated liabilities within the vary of $1m to $10m (£767,400 to £7,674,150).

Chapter 11 chapter procedures enable for a enterprise to maintain working whereas they put together a turnaround plan and moreover pause civil litigation.

The filings permits a enterprise to maintain working whereas it prepares a turnaround plan – and in addition pauses civil litigation.

Jones made the submitting only one week earlier than jury choice was scheduled to start in Austin.

Days later, District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble postponed his trial however vowed to set a brand new date “as soon as I possibly can”.

Attorneys for the households of the Sandy Hook victims accused the right-wing extremist of constructing the transfer in an try to attempt to cover tens of millions of {dollars} in belongings and keep away from paying out for the torment he has put them via.

But Jones’ success in delaying the trial was short-lived as a federal decide in Texas tossed the chapter safety case in June.

The dismissal got here after attorneys for Jones and the Sandy Hook households reached a deal to drop his three firms from the defamation lawsuits in trade for the fits persevering with.

What’s subsequent?

In Texas, the jury will now resolve how a lot the conspiracy theorist should pay to the households by way of damages and authorized charges.

Some of probably the most dramatic testimony up to now on the trial got here from Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose 6-year-old son, Jesse, was among the many 20 kids and 6 adults massacred by the gunman.

Neil Heslin labelled Mr Jones a “psychopath” and referred to as him “cowardly” for skipping the daddy’s testimony on 3 August. He additionally lambasted the speaking head for his false claims concerning the mass taking pictures, saying they left his household residing in a relentless state of concern.

Mr Jones arrived to courtroom in time to listen to testimony from Scarlett Lewis, who straight confronted the defendant.

Ms Lewis stated her son Jesse had led 9 kids to security when the gunman’s assault rifle had jammed or run out of bullets, saving their lives.

“To come on and say that Jesse never existed, that is was a hoax. I know there are hoaxes out there but this was an incredibly real event, and I lived it.

“It is unbelievable that you would continue to say that it didn’t happen” she stated.

“Do you think I’m an actress?”

In his personal testimony, which started on the afternoon of three August and continued into the following day, Mr Jones sought to sway the jury by describing Infowars as a “self-help” program and bemoaning how his title had develop into inextricably linked to the taking pictures.

In a stand-out second, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble admonished Mr Jones after plaintiff lawyer Mark Bankston accused him of mendacity on the stand when he claimed that he was bankrupt and had complied with discovery within the case.

“Mr Jones, you may have filed for bankruptcy, I don’t know that but I’ve heard that. That doesn’t make a person or a company bankrupt. You’re already under oath to tell the truth. You’ve already violated that oath twice, today. This is not your show,” the decide stated.

The Infowars host additionally raised eyebrows when he used his time on the stand to advertise his dietary supplements enterprise.

Earlier testimony got here from Infowars producer Daria Karpova, who revealed that Mr Jones didn’t personally confirm tales he aired concerning the bloodbath, and Dr Roy Lubit, a forensic psychiatrist who spoke concerning the emotional fallout from the taking pictures.

Mr Jones has missed a lot of the testimony – after his lawyer warned the decide a few “medical issue” initially of the trial. He continued to host his present on days that he skipped courtroom.

Meanwhile, even after the Texas trial is over, Jones’ authorized woes will proceed together with his Connecticut trial a number of months away from beginning.

What else?

His conspiracy theories concerning the Sandy Hook bloodbath are removed from Mr Jones’ solely authorized woes and controversies.

In January, Mr Jones appeared earlier than the House Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot that noticed Donald Trump supporters storm the Capitol to attempt to overturn the election.

He had been subpoenaed to testify after the committee stated it had proof that he was concerned in planning and funding Mr Trump’s rally previous to the revolt and that he promoted the “wild” occasion on his present.

The committee stated he had additionally led a crowd from the rally to the Capitol.

Mr Jones claimed after the riot that the Trump White House had requested him to “lead the march” from the rally to the Capitol that day. He additionally referred to as January 6 a “historic day”.

Following his committee testimony, Mr Jones claimed on his present that he pleaded the fifth “100 times” throughout questioning.