Alex Jones

Right-wing talk show host Alex Jones will have to pay the parents of a Sandy Hook shooting victim a little more than $4 million in compensatory damages, ...

Fighting back tears at times, Heslin told the jury that Jones, through his conspiratorial media organization Infowars, "tarnished the honor and legacy" of his son. "But that jury understood the truth and resisted the propaganda." He testified in court this week that he now believed it to be "100% real." That's why the company has few assets." At the start of the trial, attorneys for Lewis and Heslin asked the jury to award their clients $150 million in compensatory damages. His failure to do so led to Heslin and Lewis winning default judgments judgements against Jones. "Neil and Scarlett are thrilled with the result and look forward to putting Mr. Jones' money to good use," Bankston added. But I'm sorry.' That's how I see it." Facing multiple lawsuits, Jones later acknowledged the shooting occurred. "There has not been a sincere apology," she said. "Mr Jones on the other hand will not sleep easy tonight. A separate, shorter trial during which punitive damages will be discussed is now expected.

A Texas jury has ordered conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay more than four million dollars (£3.3 million) in compensatory damages to the parents of a ...

The Texas award could set a marker for other cases against Jones and underlines the financial threat he is facing. But Mr Heslin and Ms Lewis told jurors that an apology would not suffice and called on them to make Jones pay for the years of suffering he has put them and other Sandy Hook families through. Jones’ attorney asked the jury to limit damages to eight dollars — one dollar for each of the compensation charges they are considering — and Jones himself said any award over two million dollars “would sink us”.

Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis filed a defamation suit against Jones over his claims that the school shooting, that saw 20 children and six adults killed, was a ...

It also transpired during the trial that his own lawyer had mistakenly shared the entire contents of Jones’ phone with the opposition legal team who have been asked to provide it to the January 6 committee. The suit was filed for a total of $150m with eight separate charges. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Ms Lewis able to confront Jones and look him straight in the eye when speaking about her son. The mother of a six-year-old boy murdered in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting has testified in the Alex Jones defamation case, and spoke directly to the right-wing Infowars host about the devastating impact of his conspiratorial claims. Alex Jones launched a failed bid to destroy text messages mistakenly sent to the lawyers of Sandy Hook families as a jury deliberates on damages owed by the Infowars host for defamation.

The Austin jury must still decide how much the Infowars host must pay in punitive damages.

They said the threats and harassment were all fueled by Jones and his conspiracy theory spread to his followers via his website Infowars. But Heslin and Lewis told jurors that an apology wouldn’t suffice and called on them to make Jones pay for the years of suffering he has put them and other Sandy Hook families through. Jones was the only witness to testify in his defense. The Texas award could set a marker for other cases against Jones and underlines the financial threat he’s facing. A Connecticut judge has ruled against him in a similar lawsuit brought by other victims’ families and an FBI agent who worked on the case. The parents had sought at least $150 million in compensation for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Jones testifies in defamation trial after being sued by parents of victims for $150m for pushing false 'crisis actors' theory.

He is the only person testifying in defense of himself and his media company, Free Speech Systems. You are under oath.” “It was … especially since I’ve met the parents.

An attorney for the parents of a child killed in the Sandy Hook massacre showed a jury video on Wednesday of U.S. conspiracy theorist Alex Jones telling his ...

It ended when Lanza killed himself with the approaching sound of police sirens. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

After years of telling his followers the Sandy Hook school shooting was staged, Jones admitted on the stand that the massacre was real.

Jones said that high figure was a result of his show’s programming about the Conservative Political Action Conference. “He’s made [Heslin and Lewis] live their lives in fear, in fear of being harmed or murdered by people who believed the lies and wanted to do something about it.” Earlier in his testimony, Jones said he had personally searched for “Sandy Hook” in his text messages and had found no messages. Bankston said the contents of Jones’ phone showed that his revenue actually rose. “I personally do not get on the internet and sit there and use email,” Jones said. But Mark Bankston, an attorney for Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, told Jones on Wednesday that Jones’ own attorneys recently accidentally sent them the contents of Jones’ phone from the last two years.

The past two days of the Jones trial have been wrenching and shocking. Today, the plaintiffs' lawyers revealed in dramatic fashion that Jones's lawyers ...

Jones, who relishes flashy stunts, is used to being the one who gets to make the big, gotcha reveal, but today he was on the other end, unable—under threat of contempt of court—to talk his way out of his lies. Near the end of the day, shortly after Jones contended under oath that he was bankrupt, Gamble tore into Jones for “abusing my tolerance and making asides to the jury.” Whenever Jones attempted to speak, Gamble cut him off. But Jones continued to shove his finger in his mouth in front of the judge. “I can interrupt you; you can’t interrupt me.” When Jones suggested that he and Infowars had complied with the lawsuit’s discovery requests, Gamble shut him down. Throughout the trial, Jones has been at his most exposed when the jury has left the room and he’s been forced to confront the authority of Judge Gamble. Gamble has frequently admonished Jones, the way a parent or principal might scold a misbehaving grade-schooler. Jones is used to commanding the microphone for interminable periods, and from the stand, it almost looked like he was back in his studio and about to tear into a signature four-hour broadcast rant. Opposing counsel argued this was a lie as Jones has only declared bankruptcy and not yet proved it.) At one point during a routine line of questioning, Jones told his lawyer, “You can’t be told about the matrix; you have to see it.” Jones’s attorney responded, “Let’s slow down a little bit.” At one point yesterday, Gamble interrupted Jones’s attorney to ask him to “spit his gum out.” Jones immediately stood up to tell the judge he was instead massaging the hole of a recently pulled tooth. But the witness chair is a powerful tool in exposing Jones for what he really is: a reckless individual caught in a web of his own lies. Upon realizing the gravity of the situation, Jones sat stunned and red-faced, looking on the verge of tears. What exactly might come of this discovery is unclear, but it seems likely that we will continue to learn more about the inner workings of Jones’s conspiracist media empire (one message from the trove disclosed that in 2018, Infowars was making as much as $800,000 a day from its online store). The contents of the phone could be turned over to law enforcement, where the material could be relevant in other pending investigations. The only way to shut up Alex Jones, for a moment, at least, is to place him inside a courtroom.

Jones admitted to the mother of a Sandy Hook school shooting victim that the tragedy was '100% real' while he testified in his defense.

Yesterday, Heslin testified that it was ‘too late’ for Alex Jones to issue an apology. Heslin said this was ‘only way to put a stop’ to Jones continuing to speak about the family. He attacked Heslin and Lewis directly, calling the grieving father ‘slow’. Ok? His ex-wife is not,’ Jones said. I really could believe that it was totally staged at that point,’ he said. I know you know that.

The text messages were sent to a lawyer representing Sandy Hook families during Jones' defamation trial.

Start your Independent Premium subscription today. It’s unclear what information he provided for the committee. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy policy and Terms of service apply. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy policy and Terms of service apply. In a video posted to the Infowars website, he told the crowd: “We need to understand we’re under attack, and we need to understand this is 21st-century warfare and get on a war-footing.” The January 6 committee is preparing to subpoena Alex Jones’ texts and emails that were accidentally sent to an attorney for the Sandy Hook victims, according to a report.

It's 100% real,” Jones admitted Wednesday in court, where he also learned that his lawyers accidentally passed along the contents of his phone to the ...

Which, true or not, would seem to be a fully appropriate punishment. On Tuesday, that judge, Maya Guerra Gamble, took Jones to task for lying under oath, telling him, “This is not your show.” If there’s justice in the world, Alex Jones, the infamous conspiracy theorist on trial for the unconscionable, disgusting lies he spread that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax, and that the children and teachers who lost their lives that day weren’t actually killed, will have to pay the full $150 million the families suing him for defamation have asked for.

Jurors in the trial are hearing evidence to determine how much Jones and his media company Free Speech Systems, owe for defaming Neil Heslin and Scarlett ...

"It seems absurd to instruct you again that you must tell the truth while you testify," she said. Jurors in the trial are hearing evidence to determine how much Jones and his media company Free Speech Systems owe for defaming Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis. Jurors in the trial are hearing evidence to determine how much Jones and his media company Free Speech Systems, owe for defaming Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose son was killed in the 2012 tragedy.

Testifying before the jury Jones said: “Especially since I've met the parents. It's 100% real.” He was taken to court in Austin, Texas, by Neil Heslin and ...

We have been appealing to the common decency of far-right provocateurs for a long time. On Friday they ordered Jones to pay an additional $45.2m in punitive damages. We have been appealing to the common decency of far-right provocateurs for a long time. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. The jury has told Alex Jones to pay an additional $45.2m in punitive damages on top of the $4.1m in compensatory damages they ordered him to pay yesterday. The jury has told Alex Jones to pay an additional $45.2m in punitive damages on top of the $4.1m in compensatory damages they ordered him to pay yesterday.

The dishonesty of right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was spotlighted in a Texas court on Wednesday as a lawyer for a pair of Sandy Hook parents ...

It seems absurd to instruct you again that you must tell the truth while you testify. And Gamble on Tuesday had also admonished Jones for having violated his oath to tell the truth twice. "You are already under oath to tell the truth," Gamble said Tuesday. "You've already violated that oath twice today, in just those two examples. When reminded Jones had testified under oath that he had searched his phone during the discovery phase of the trial and could not locate messages about Sandy Hook, Jones insisted he "did not lie." In a remarkable moment, Bankston disclosed to Jones and the court that he had recently acquired evidence proving Jones had lied when he claimed during the discovery process that he had never texted about the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting. The cell phone records, Bankston said, showed that Jones had in fact texted about the Sandy Hook shooting.

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Jones is the only person testifying in his own defence. Jones’ testimony came a day after Mr Heslin and Ms Lewis told the courtroom in Austin, where Jones and his companies are based, that Jones and the false hoax claims he and Infowars pushed made their lives a “living hell” of death threats, online abuse and harassment. The legal team representing Infowars founder Alex Jones inadvertently sent the contents of his cellphone to a lawyer representing the parents of a child killed in the Sandy Hook mass shooting, the parents’ lawyer said in court Wednesday.

The InfoWars host testified to say that he believes the Sandy Hook shooting really happened, after years of claiming that it was a hoax orchestrated by gun ...

Prior to arriving at the school, Lanza shot and killed his own mother in their home in Newtown, Connecticut. “As time went on I truly realised how dangerous it was … My life has been threatened. Jones has been banned from a number of websites and social media platforms, including YouTube, Facebook and Spotify, for violating hate-speech policies. Jones has since testified that he now understands it was irresponsible of him to declare the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre a hoax and that he now believes it was “100% real”. A Trump supporter, Jones also supported the false claims of electoral fraud in the 2020 Presidential election. Bankston provided Jones with a copy of a text message he had written in which he mentioned his theory about the Sandy Hook shooting being fake - directly contradicting Jones’ sworn testimony in which said that he had no text messages that referenced Sandy Hook. Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of six-year-old Jesse Lewis, have sued Jones and his media company Free Speech Systems over the harassment and threats they and other parents say they have endured for years after Jones and his Infowars website claimed the 2012 attack was a hoax. The conspiracy theory led to the families of those connected to the Sandy Hook shooting to be harassed and to be sent death threats by people who believed the attack to be a hoax. He claimed that “no one died” in Sandy Hook, and that the incident was “completely fake with actors”. Jones said that the children who were killed were acting for the cameras, and that parents who lost their children had faked their deaths. On his Infowars radio show, Jones said that the shooting was “staged” by the Government so that they could “go after our guns” and “start a civil war”. Following the Sandy Hook attack, Jones spread the conspiracy theory that the shooting wasn’t real, and was instead a hoax created by gun control advocates to push for gun control. Conspiracy theorist and alt-right figure Alex Jones has admitted to saying that he believes the Sandy Hook school shooting is “100% real”, after years of claiming the attack was a hoax orchestrated by gun control advocates.

'Having a six-year-old son shot in his forehead in his classroom is unbearable... You think I'm an actress?' Scarlett Lewis asked Jones directly at one ...

“I hope to accomplish an era of truth. “I think you know that Sandy Hook is real and that it happened... “This is a real event. “Having a six-year-old son shot in his forehead in his classroom is unbearable. An era of truth. “It’s our responsibility. You’re still on your show, today, trying to say that I am — implying — that I’m an actress. “Do you have the capacity to put yourself in my shoes? Sandy Hook is a hard truth. And I don’t understand.” I know that you’re a father,” Lewis told Jones. Do you have empathy?”

Jurors have begun determining how much money Alex Jones must pay to the parents of 6-year-old Sandy Hook shooting victim, Jesse Lewis, for defamation.

Jurors also were told that Jones and his company inflicted intentional emotional distress on Heslin and Lewis by repeatedly portraying the Sandy Hook shooting as a hoax from 2012 to 2018, when they filed suit. Jurors also were asked to determine the amount of money that would fairly compensate Heslin for past and future damage to his reputation and past and future mental anguish caused by the defamatory reports. The jurors next will be asked to award punitive damages that are intended as punishment. Heslin testified that he made the statement in an NBC interview in hopes of stopping Jones' campaign and to protect the legacy of his son, who died a hero by yelling "Run!" when the gunman paused. Before hearing closing arguments Thursday, jurors were informed that Jones and Free Speech Systems defamed Heslin in two 2017 InfoWars reports that questioned Heslin's claim that he held his dead son and saw the bullet wound to his head after the shooting. Ten of the 12 jurors agreed on the verdict — the minimum number required for a decision.

A Texas judge denied Alex Jones's motion for a mistrial on Thursday as jury deliberations resumed in a defamation case over the U.S. conspiracy theorist's ...

It ended when Lanza killed himself with the approaching sound of police sirens. The parents may now use the records as they wish. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com The verdict followed a two-week trial in Austin, Texas, where Jones's radio show and webcast Infowars are based. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

The conspiracy theorist's breathtakingly silly blunder underscores the urgent need to revamp ediscovery in US law.

If a lawyer sends over an email where they are giving a client advice, they can often get it back, but when the email shows the client is committing a crime, like perjury, that’s a different matter. But when plaintiffs don’t find the killer documents, ever-stricter state and federal rules make it harder to get your day in court. But many American attorneys were simultaneously swept by a wave of nausea and the visceral realization that this—maybe not a blunder this big and boneheaded, but something like it—could all-too-easily have happened to their clients. If we continue down this path, focusing more time and money on increasingly protracted legal battles over documents, our legal system will become even more about money and less about justice. But a screwup on the scale of Alex Jones’ lawyers is a whole other matter. Instead, for litigators, the courtroom has been replaced by electronic discovery, the sometimes years-long process of sifting through mountains of records to see what can be proven.

The Infowars founder's lawyer Andino Reynal argued that if the lawyers of the Sandy Hook families used the texts, it could mean a mistrial.

Mr Bankston said he intended to cooperate with law enforcement and US government officials who wanted to view the messages. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. The judge said she would review any documents marked as confidential and make a decision but will not seal the entire phone. By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice. By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice. pic.twitter.com/mqOLPcgyIM August 4, 2022

The Infowars host has already been found liable in lawsuits filed by the families of the Sandy Hook school shooting victims. A trial this week will begin to ...

The lawyers also presented financial records that contradicted Mr. Jones’s claim that he was bankrupt. This week’s trial in Austin, Texas, is the first of three that will determine how much Mr. Jones must pay the families. The cases never made it to a jury; Mr. Jones was found liable by default in all of them because he refused to turn over documents, including financial records, ordered by the courts over four years of litigation. And if you look at the world through dirty glasses, everything you see is dirty.” The long-running legal battle has been an unusual spectacle, including the revelation on Wednesday that Mr. Jones’s lawyer accidentally sent two years’ worth of text messages to the families’ lawyers. Just a few hours after the shooting, he began calling it a “false flag,” a secretive plot planned by the government as a pretext for taking away Americans’ guns.

A Texas judge on Thursday denied Alex Jones's motion for a mistrial in a defamation case over the U.S. conspiracy theorist's false claims about the Sandy ...

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com An attorney for the parents, Mark Bankston, used the texts to undercut Jones’ testimony during cross-examination Wednesday. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

An attorney representing two parents who sued conspiracy theorist Alex Jones over his false claims about the Sandy Hook massacre said the House committee ...

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Here are seven moments that could shape a jury's deliberations on Thursday in a trial to decide how much U.S. conspiracy theorist Alex Jones must pay ...

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Jones disputed Bankston's characterization that the photo depicted Gamble on fire. -There were several tense exchanges between Jones and Gamble. Before jurors entered the courtroom, Gamble told Jones to spit out his gum. "It seems absurd to instruct you again that you must tell the truth while you testify," she said. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

The right-wing conspiracy theorist was left stunned as the lawyers for a Sandy Hook family suing him for $150m revealed his own legal team had accidentally sent ...

Start your Independent Premium subscription today. my lawyers give them the raw text messages of six months,” he said. By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice. By clicking ‘Register’ you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy policy and Terms of service apply. He also said that the situation was “all part of my persecution” and that it was “a test” from God. He added, dramatically, that his “destruction will be spectacular.”

Alex Jones will pay for defaming Sandy Hook parents, but we might never get back what his lie cost us all.

Jones has known ties to the ringleaders of several militia groups and others involved in the Capitol invasion, and the committee subpoenaed Jones as early as November 2021 for his role in the action. “You and your company want the world to believe that this judge is rigging this court proceeding to make sure that a script, a literal script, is being followed,” Bankston stated at one point. Throughout the trial, a major theme was trying to pin Jones himself down to a functional version of reality. If it feels as though pundits have hung on every word of the defamation trial, that’s because they have: A host of journalists and law bloggers have been livetweeting the trial minute to minute, from the courtroom and while following the courtroom livestream. This led to a bombshell courtroom reveal from the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Mark Bankston, on Wednesday, the final day of arguments in the case. He also filed for bankruptcy in April, despite making as much as $50 million annually, in a clear attempt to delay financial judgment in one of the other lawsuits. The case’s shocking revelations, which now include a potential link to January 6, 2021, are reminders that the kind of zealous paranoid thinking Jones encourages can have dangerous and unintended consequences. A total of 10 families eventually sued Jones beginning in 2018, bringing two suits in Texas, where Jones runs Infowars, and one in Connecticut, where the shooting occurred. A major courtroom bombshell on the last day of testimony in which Jones’s lawyer accidentally handed over the entire contents of his phone to the prosecution, revealing the extent of Jones’s deception — a snafu that also inadvertently tipped off the House January 6 committee. Jones has spent years fighting his way to the courtroom. As a result of the claims, Infowars fans harassed, stalked, and threatened the families for years, pushing some into hiding. That’s far less than the $150 million they were seeking; a jury decision on whether to award the family punitive damages, which may be based on Jones’s overall net worth, is still pending.

A gleeful streak of schadenfreude shot through the internet on Wednesday, as a video clip of Alex Jones realizing that his own attorney accidentally sent a ...

Jones has spent so long broadcasting his warped view of the world, making claims about inter-dimensional pedophiles, human-animal hybrids and false flags, never seeming to suffer the consequences. Jones seems to make a good living from amplifying hate and selling supplements to his gullible followers, despite his reputation as an underdog muzzled by big tech. Rogan often frames Jones’ deranged outbursts as a joke, diminishes his role in amplifying hateful conspiracies, and, bizarrely, treats the man with a certain reverence.

Award is first against far-right conspiracy theorist for false claims about deadly US school shooting.

Far-right Infowars owner faced defamation trial for repeatedly saying the school shooting was a hoax.

Those messages included texts that contradicted claims Jones had made under oath in a prior deposition that he had nothing on his phone pertaining to the Sandy Hook massacre. Jones grumbled that Bankston had gotten his “Perry Mason moment” at his expense, alluding to the TV attorney who would win his cases by getting those he was questioning to dramatically confess to wrongdoing on the witness stand. For its part, the plaintiffs’ legal team subjected Jones to a withering cross-examination. Reynal asked jurors to limit his client’s damages to a single dollar, despite evidence during the trial that Infowars earned more than $800,000 daily some days. That set up a trial beginning on 25 July whose sole purpose was to determine how much money Jones owed Jesse Lewis’s parents in compensation and possible punitive damages. That myth, consumed by Jones’ millions of followers, prompted a man to go there with a high-powered rifle and fire shots inside in 2016.

The parents of a child killed in the school shooting said they endured harassment because of the radio host's claims.

After tomorrow, he's going to owe a lot more." The attorney said a congressional panel investigating last year's US Capitol riot had already requested access to the messages. I'm a real mom." "We knew coming into this case it was necessary to shoot for the moon to get the jury to understand we were serious and passionate. Lawyers for the parents accused Jones of trying to hide evidence, and argued that he had committed perjury when he denied sending messages related to the Sandy Hook attack. Jones - who was not in court when the outcome was announced - has repeatedly argued that the shooting was a hoax organised by the government in order to strip Americans of gun ownership rights, and that the parents of the dead children were "crisis actors".

The InfoWars host and creator will have to pay $4.1 million to two parents whose 6-year-old son was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012.

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The parents sought $150 million in their defamation lawsuit against the conspiracy theorist. The jury could still issue more damages in an upcoming phase of ...

Jesse confronted the shooter and yelled for other children to run. See the growing speaker list and buy tickets. His claims led his listeners to harass the victims’ families and make death threats against them for years. Nine children were able to escape the classroom where they were hiding. Jurors decided the amount of damages Jones owes the parents after listening to evidence and testimonies from a range of witnesses for seven days. The case will now enter a new phase to determine punitive damages, which can be rewarded to punish a defendant for reckless, negligent or outrageous behavior or to deter future bad acts.