Comment As a civil trial begins Tuesday in Texas to determine how much Alex Jones owes the parents of victims of the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in defamation after he falsely claimed the massacre was a “giant hoax,” unspecified medical problems could prevent the right-wing conspiracy theorist from being in court, according to his attorney. During jury selection Monday, Jones’ attorney, F. Antino Reynal, told the Austin court that the Infowars founder “has medical issues” that could prevent him from appearing during the trial, even though “he has no obligation to be here.” “Alex, you may have noticed, is not here, like the plaintiffs,” Reynal said, according to the News-Times in Danbury, Conn. “He may not be here during the trial.” The defense attorney repeated to KXAN in Austin after jury selection concluded that he had spoken with Jones’ doctors and “made the decision that [Jones] he shouldn’t be here.” “He wants to be here,” Reynal said. While Reynal did not specify what “medical issues” might prevent the 48-year-old from attending the trial in person, Jones, who has already lost several defamation lawsuits related to his Sandy Hook lies, has previously blamed stress and its cardiovascular effects. coronavirus infection for deposits missing in the Connecticut trial last year. Jones also faced daily fines of $25,000 from a Connecticut judge for failing to appear in court-ordered depositions in March. Reynal did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Tuesday. Mark Bankston, an attorney for the families suing Jones, also did not immediately respond to The Washington Post’s request for comment. Bankston told The Associated Press that the families were “very happy that the day has come” for the trial to begin. “We look forward to telling our customers’ story,” Bankston said. Jones faces another potential financial blow years after he said the deadliest elementary school shooting in U.S. history — which killed 26 people in Newtown, Conn., 20 of them young children — was a “false flag” operation that made by “crisis factors”. .” While Jones has since acknowledged that the shooting took place and blamed his false claims on “a form of psychosis,” he has been banned from major platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Spotify for violating their hate speech policies. He also placed his conspiracy website, Infowars, into bankruptcy protection before the Texas trial began in April. Infowars, run by Alex Jones, files for bankruptcy protection Judges in Connecticut and Texas found Jones liable for damages in lawsuits stemming from his false claims. In default rulings against Jones and Infowars last October, U.S. District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble of Travis County, Texas, ruled that Jones failed to comply with court orders to provide information in a pair of lawsuits filed against him in 2018 by the families of two children killed in the 2012 massacre. Jones has repeatedly failed to provide documents and evidence in court to support his damaging and false claims. Jones was previously ordered to pay tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees to families who have sued him. Nine families have sued him over the years. Alex Jones Must Pay Restitution to Sandy Hook Families After Calling Shooting ‘Giant Hoax’, Judge Says “An escalating series of judicial admonitions, monetary penalties, and injunctive sanctions have all been ineffective in deterring abuse,” Gamble wrote last year. Gamble’s 2021 rulings involved two 2018 lawsuits filed by Sandy Hook parents Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, who lost their 6-year-old son, Noah, and Scarlett Lewis, whose 6-year-old son, Jesse, was also killed. on set. Posner and De La Rosa said they faced emotional distress and were harassed for years by Infowars fans who followed Jones’ lead and falsely claimed the shooting was staged. Jones acknowledged on the Infowars website earlier this year that he had missed preliminary hearings for the 2021 trial in Connecticut, citing health reasons related to Covid-19. The Food and Drug Administration and health experts have accused Jones of promoting and selling products on his website that falsely claimed to “boost your immune system” against the virus. “I started getting sick after the coronavirus last year… like everyone else. It attacked the cardiovascular system, okay?’ Jones said in an audio message posted in March. “I’m 48 and under a lot of stress.” Jurors in Austin, where Infowars is based, will not hear evidence on the defamation claims, but will instead determine how much compensatory and punitive damages Jones must pay to the victims’ families. While Jones has claimed in court that he has a net worth of $20 million, lawyers for the Sandy Hook families have pointed to records that show Jones’s Infowars outlet earned more than $165 million between 2015 and 2018. Among those expected to testify Tuesday are Daria Karpova, a producer at Infowars, and Daniel Jewiss, who was the lead investigator of the Sandy Hook shooting for Connecticut police. Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, the parents of Jesse Lewis, are also expected to testify during the trial. Gamble, the judge presiding over the case, said the trial is expected to last two weeks. He urged jurors not to read or watch any of the news related to Jones or the case, according to the News-Times. “We want a trial based only on the evidence presented in court,” he said.
