Speaking a day after the parents of a 6-year-old boy killed in the 2012 attack testified about the suffering, death threats and harassment they have suffered because of what Jones has terrorized on his media platforms, the Infowars host told a court in Texas that she definitely believes the attack happened. “Especially since I’ve met the parents. It’s 100% real,” Jones said in his lawsuit to determine how much he and his media company, Free Speech Systems, owe for defamation of Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis. Their son Jesse Lewis was among 20 students and six teachers killed in the attack in Newtown, Connecticut, which was the deadliest school shooting in American history. However, Heslin and Lewis said Tuesday that an apology would not be enough and that Jones should be held accountable for repeatedly spreading falsehoods about the attack. They are asking for at least $150 million. Final arguments are expected to begin later Wednesday after more testimony from Jones, who has portrayed the lawsuit as an attack on his First Amendment rights. Jones is the only person testifying in his own defense. His lawyer asked him if he now understands that it was “absolutely irresponsible” to promote false claims that the massacre did not happen and no one died. Jones said he does, but added: “They (the media) won’t let me take it back.” He also complained that “he’s typecast as somebody who runs around talking about Sandy Hook, makes money off of Sandy Hook, is obsessed with Sandy Hook.” Jones’ testimony came a day after Heslin and Lewis told a courtroom in Austin, where Jones and his companies are based, that Jones and the false hoax claims he and Infowars pushed had made their lives a ” living hell’ of death threats, online abuse and harassment. They led a day of charged testimony Tuesday, which included the judge reprimanding the bombastic Jones for not being truthful with some of what he said under oath. In a riveting exchange, Lewis spoke directly to Jones, who was sitting about 10 feet away. Earlier that day, Jones was on his talk show telling his audience that Heslin is “slow” and being manipulated by bad people. “I am a mother first and foremost and I know you are a father. My son existed,” Lewis told Jones. “I’m not deep state… I know you know that… And yet you’re going to walk out of this courthouse and say it again on your show.” At one point, Lewis asked Jones, “Do you think I’m an actor?” “No, I don’t think you’re an actor,” Jones replied before the judge warned him to be quiet until called to testify. Heslin and Lewis are among several Sandy Hook families who have filed multiple lawsuits alleging that claims of a Sandy Hook hoax promoted by Jones led to years of abuse by him and his followers. Heslin and Lewis said they fear for their lives and have been confronted by strangers at home and on the street. Heslin said his house and car were shot at. The court heard a death threat was sent via phone message to another Sandy Hook family. “I can’t even describe the last nine and a half years, the living hell that I and others have had to endure because of the recklessness and negligence of Alex Jones,” Heslin said. Scarlett Lewis also described threatening emails that appeared to have revealed deep details of her personal life. “It’s fear for your life,” said Scarlett Lewis. “You don’t know what they would do.” Heslin said he didn’t know if the Sandy Hook hoax conspiracy theory was started by Jones, but it was Jones who “lighted the match and lit the fire” with an online platform and broadcast that reached millions worldwide. “What was said about me and Sandy Hook itself resonates around the world,” Heslin said. “As time went on, I really realized how dangerous it was.” Jones skipped Heslin’s testimony Tuesday morning while on his show — a move Heslin dismissed as “cowardly” — but did make it to the courtroom for part of Scarlett Lewis’ testimony. He was accompanied by several private security guards. “Today is very important for me and it’s been a long time coming… to confront Alex Jones for what he said and did to me. To restore my son’s honor and legacy,” Heslin said when Jones wasn’t there. Heslin told jurors he was holding his son with a bullet hole in his head, even describing the extent of the damage to his son’s body. A key part of the case is a 2017 Infowars broadcast that reported that Heslin was not holding his son. Jurors were shown a school photo of a smiling Jesse taken two weeks before he was killed. The parents did not receive the photo until after the shoot. They described how Jesse was known to tell classmates to “run!” which probably saved lives. An apology from Jones wouldn’t be good enough, the parents said. “Alex started this fight,” Heslin said, “and I’m going to finish this fight.” Jones later took the stand and was initially combative with the judge, who had asked him to answer his attorney’s question. Jones testified that he had long wanted to apologize to the plaintiffs. The judge later sent the jurors out of the courtroom and strongly reprimanded Jones for telling jurors he had complied with pretrial evidence collection even though he had not and that he is bankrupt, which has not been determined. Plaintiffs’ attorneys were furious with Jones for saying he is bankrupt, which they worry will sway jurors’ decisions on damages. “This is not your show,” Judge Maya Guerra Gamble told Jones. “Your beliefs do not make something true. You are under oath.” Last September, the judge notified Jones in absentia of his failure to turn over documents requested by the Sandy Hook families. A Connecticut court issued a similar default judgment against Jones on the same grounds in a separate lawsuit brought by other Sandy Hook parents. At stake in the trial is how much Jones will pay. The parents asked the jury to award $150 million in damages for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The jury will then consider whether Jones and his company will pay punitive damages. Jones has already tried to financially protect Free Speech Systems. The company filed for federal bankruptcy protection last week. The Sandy Hook families have separately sued Jones over his financial claims, claiming the company is trying to protect millions belonging to Jones and his family through shell entities.
Associated Press writer Paul J. Weber contributed to this report.
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title: “Alex Jones Admits Sandy Hook Attack Was 100 Real " ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-14” author: “Kelly Longshore”
Under oath and facing a jury that could hit him with $150 million or more in damages for his false claims, Jones said Wednesday he now realizes he was irresponsible and believes what happened in the deadliest school shooting in American history was “100% percent real.” .” Jones’ public remorse came on the final day of testimony in a two-week defamation lawsuit against him and Austin-based media company Free Speech Systems brought by Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis . Their son was a first-grader who was among the 20 students and six teachers killed at the school in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012. “I was unwittingly involved in things that hurt those people’s feelings,” said Jones, who also acknowledged raising conspiracy claims for other mass tragedies, from the Oklahoma City and Boston Marathon bombings to the Las Vegas mass shooting. Vegas and Parkland, Florida, “and I’m sorry about that.” But an apology isn’t enough for Heslin and Lewis. They said Jones and the media empire he controls and used to spread his false claims must be held accountable. “Alex started this fight,” Heslin said, “and I’m going to finish this fight.” The parents testified Tuesday about a decade of trauma, caused first by their son’s slaying and what followed: shootings at a home, online and phone threats and street harassment by strangers, all fueled by Jones and his conspiracy theory circulated to his followers through the Infowars website. A medical examiner testified that the parents suffer from “complex post-traumatic stress disorder” caused by ongoing trauma, similar to what a soldier in war or a victim of child abuse might experience. At one point in her testimony, Lewis looked directly at Jones, who was sitting just 10 feet away. “It seems so unbelievable to me that we have to do this – that we have to plead with you, punish you – make you stop lying,” Lewis told Jones. Courts in Texas and Connecticut have already found Jones liable for defamation for his portrayal of the Sandy Hook massacre as a prank involving actors aimed at increasing gun control. Now, Heslin and Lewis are asking an Austin jury for $150 million in damages for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. They will also ask the jury to assess additional punitive damages. Jurors began considering damages on Wednesday. Once they determine whether Jones should pay the parents damages for defamation and emotional distress, they will then have to decide whether he should also pay punitive damages. That part will include a separate mini-trial with Jones and the economist testifying about his and his company’s net worth. Jones’ lawyer asked the jury to limit the damages to $8 – one dollar for each of the damages they are considering – and Jones himself said that any award above $2 million “would sink us.” At the end of Jones’ testimony, Mark Bankston, the family’s attorney, pulled a crumpled bill from his pocket, showed it to Jones and put it down in front of the parents. “The day Sandy Hook happened, Alex Jones planted a seed of misinformation that lasted a decade,” the parents’ attorney Kyle Farrar told the jury in closing arguments. “And he just watered that seed over and over until it bore fruit: cruelty and money.” During his testimony, Jones said he has tried in the past to fend off hoax claims, but “the media won’t let me take them back.” Jones — who has been banned from major social media platforms for hate speech and abusive behavior — has portrayed the lawsuit as an attack on his First Amendment rights and complained that he’s “being typecast as someone running around talking about Sandy Hook, makes money Sandy Hook is obsessed with Sandy Hook.” Eight days of testimony included videos of Jones and Infowars employees talking about the Sandy Hook conspiracy and even mocking Heslin’s description in a 2017 television interview that he had held his dead son Jesse’s body “with a bullet hole in his head.” Heslin described in court that moment with his dead son. Jones was the only witness to testify in his defense. And he was attacked by cross-examination plaintiffs’ attorneys as they reviewed Jones’ video allegations about Sandy Hook over the years and accused him of lying and trying to hide evidence, including text messages and emails about Sandy Hook. It also included internal emails sent by an Infowars employee saying “this Sandy Hook stuff is killing us.” At one point, Jones was informed that his lawyers had accidentally sent Bankston two years’ worth of text messages from Jones’ cellphone. And shortly after Jones declared “I don’t use email,” he showed Jones one from his address and another from an Infowars entrepreneur who told Jones the company had made $800,000 gross from selling its products to a only day which would amount to nearly $300 million in one year. Jones has already tried to financially protect Free Speech Systems. The company filed for federal bankruptcy protection last week. The Sandy Hook families have separately sued Jones over his financial claims, claiming the company is trying to protect millions belonging to Jones and his family through shell entities.
Associated Press writer Paul J. Weber contributed to this report.
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