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. Alex Jones enters the courtroom in front of Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, the parents of 6-year-old Sand Hook victim Jesse Lewis, at the Travis County Courthouse in Austin, Texas, July 28, 2022. BRIANA SANCHEZ/POOL 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. Testimony in the trial, which is now in its second week, wrapped up around noon Wednesday. During closing arguments Wednesday afternoon, Jones’ attorney, Antino Reynal, said prosecutors failed to prove his client’s actions and words caused actual harm to Heslin and Lewis. He said it’s fair to conclude that someone else “weaponized” what Jones said about Sandy Hook and “convinced them that Alex Jones was responsible for their grief.” Jones was the only person to testify 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 was “typed as someone who runs around talking about Sandy Hook, makes money off of Sandy Hook, is obsessed with Sandy Hook.” Under continued cross-examination by attorney Mark Bankston, Jones acknowledged his history of making conspiracy claims about other mass tragedies, from the Oklahoma City and Boston Marathon bombings to mass shootings in Las Vegas and Parkland, Florida. Bankston then took aim at Jones’ credibility, showing an Infowars video clip from last week in which an anchor — not Jones — claimed the trial was rigged and featured a photo of the judge on fire. Then came another clip with Jones asking if the jury was chosen from a group of people “who don’t know what planet” they live on. Jones said he didn’t mean that part literally. Bankston said Jones had failed to comply with court orders to provide text messages and emails to gather evidence before trial. Jones said, “I don’t use an email,” then pointed to one collected from another source that came from his email address. He replied, “I must have dictated it.” At one point, Bankston informed Jones that his lawyers had accidentally sent Bankston two years’ worth of text messages from Jones’ cellphone. The attorney also showed the court an email from an Infowars entrepreneur informing Jones that the company had grossed $800,000 from the sale of its products in one day, which would amount to nearly $300 million in a year. Jones said this was the company’s best day in sales. 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’m a mother first and foremost and I know you’re 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 lawsuits alleging that claims of a Sandy Hook hoax promoted by Jones led to years of abuse by him and his followers. “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 to 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 was not 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. In 2017, Heslin went on television, he told CBS News, to directly address Sandy Hook deniers. “I lost my son. I buried my son. I held my son with a bullet hole in his head,” she said. After that, the harassment got worse, Heslin said. “I’ve had a lot of death threats,” Heslin told CBS News in 2018. “People say, ‘You should be the one with a bullet hole in your head.’ 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 for telling classmates to “run!” which probably saved lives. Jones later took the stand Tuesday 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 anything 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 told the jury that any damages above $2 million “will sink us,” but added, “I think it’s appropriate for whatever you decide what you want to do.” 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.

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