Court proceedings in Texas to decide how much Alex Jones owes in damages to the families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims begin Tuesday, but the right-wing conspiracy theorist’s attorney says he may be unable to attend due to unidentified medical issues.
Attorney F. Andino Reynal told the Austin courthouse during jury selection on Monday that Infowars founder Alex Jones “had medical difficulties” that could prevent him from attending some parts of the trial, even though he “has no responsibility to be here.”
According to the News-Times in Danbury, Conn., “Alex, you may have noticed, is not here,” stated Reynal. “It’s possible he won’t be present for all of the proceedings.”
“I made the conclusion that [Jones] shouldn’t be here,” the defense attorney told KXAN in Austin after the jury selection was over.
Because he really wants to be here,” Reynal opined.
It’s unclear what “medical issues” Reynal is referring to but Jones has previously cited stress and cardiovascular consequences from his coronavirus infection for skipping deposition in a Connecticut trial last year because of the stress and cardiovascular impacts. Additionally, a Connecticut judge imposed daily fines of $25,000 on Jones for missing court-ordered depositions in March.
A message left for Reynal early on Tuesday morning went unanswered.
The attorney for the families suing Jones, Mark Bankston, did not immediately reply to a request for comment from The Washington Post. According to Bankston, the families are “extremely delighted the day is here” to begin the trial.
“We’re excited to share our clients’ stories with the world,” Bankston added.
Years after he suggested the deadliest elementary school shooting in the United States was a “false flag” operation carried out by “crisis actors,” Jones faces another probable financial hit. It’s now been confirmed that the shooting did take place, with Jones blaming his false statements on “a sort of psychosis.” He has been banned from a number of social media networks because of his insistence that the shooting had never taken place. He also filed for bankruptcy protection for his conspiracy website, Infowars, before the trial was scheduled to begin in Texas in April.
Infowars, Alex Jones’s website, has filed for bankruptcy.
Jones has been found accountable for damages in litigation springing from erroneous assertions by Connecticut and Texas judges. The relatives of two children slain in the 2012 massacre initiated two lawsuits against Jones and Infowars last year, and District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble of Travis County, Tex., determined that Jones had not complied with court orders to provide material in those cases. Jones persistently refused to provide the court with records and proof to support his false and malicious accusations.
Jones has previously been compelled to pay families that sued him tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. Over the years, he’s been sued by nine different families.
Alex Jones must pay damages to Sandy Hook families after calling shooting a ‘giant hoax,’ judge rules
An increasing number of monetary fines, court admonitions, and non-dispositive consequences have all been ineffective in discouraging the abuse, according to a study conducted by Gamble a year ago.
Sandy Hook parents Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, who lost their 6-year-old son Noah in the shooting, and Scarlett Lewis, whose 6-year-old son Jesse was also slain, both filed lawsuits in 2018 seeking redress from Gamble’s 2021 decisions. For years, Infowars followers who followed Jones’ lead and wrongly claimed that the massacre was staged have tormented Pozner and De La Rosa, who say they have suffered emotional distress.
Prior to the 2021 trial in Connecticut, Jones acknowledged on his Infowars website that he had skipped pretrial depositions because to health issues associated to covid-19. In marketing and selling medicines on his website that he falsely claimed would “boost your immune system” against the virus, the Food and Drug Administration and health experts have slammed Jones.
“Like everyone else, I became ill after contracting covid last year. Yes, the cardiovascular system was attacked, correct?” In March, Jones recorded an audio message and shared it online. The 48-year-old woman says, “I’m stressed out.”
Courts in the city of Austin, where Infowars is based, will not hear about the defamation charges against Jones but will instead decide how much compensation and punitive damages he must pay the victims’ families. Court documents by Jones state that he has a net worth of negative $20 million, but the Sandy Hook victims’ attorneys have referred to records showing that his Infowart store grossed 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 the Connecticut State Police. During the trial, it is believed that Jesse Lewis’ parents, Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, will also give testimony.
It is predicted that the trial will run two weeks, according to the judge, Gamble. In an interview with the News-Times, she encouraged jurors not to read or watch any news stories about Jones or the case.
She stated, “We want a trial based only on the evidence provided in court,” when asked what she wanted.