Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones He stated Wednesday that he now understands that it was irresponsible of him to declare the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre a hoax and that he now believes it was “100 percent real.”
Speaking a day after the parents of a 6-year-old boy who died in the 2012 bombing testified about the suffering, death threats and harassment have endured because of what Jones has announced on his media platforms, the Infowars host told a Texas courtroom that he definitely believes the attack happened.
“Especially since I’ve met the parents. It’s 100 percent true,” Jones said at his trial to determine how much he and his media company, Free Speech Systems, owe for defaming Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis. Her son Jesse Lewis was among the 20 students and six educators killed in the attack in Newtown, Connecticut, which was the deadliest school shooting in US history.
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But 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 in its second week, concluded around noon Wednesday.
During closing arguments Wednesday afternoon, Jones’ attorney, Andino Reynal, said the plaintiffs failed to show that his client’s actions and words caused actual harm to Heslin and Lewis. He said it’s fair to infer that someone else “weaponized” what Jones has said about Sandy Hook and “convinced them that Alex Jones was responsible for their pain.”
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 push false claims that the massacre did not take place and that no one was killed.
Jones said yes, but added, “They (the media) won’t let me take it back.”
He also complained that he has become “angry as someone who runs around talking about Sandy Hook, makes money from Sandy Hook, is obsessed with Sandy Hook.”
Under withering cross-examination from attorney Mark Bankston, Jones acknowledged his history of conspiracy claims about other mass tragedies, from the Oklahoma City and Boston Marathon bombings to the mass shootings in Las Vegas and Parkland, Florida.
Bankston then took a dig at Jones’ credibility, showing an Infowars video clip from last week when a host, not Jones, claimed the trial was rigged and featured a photo of the judge on fire. Then came another clip of Jones asking if the jury was selected 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 for evidence gathering before trial. Jones said, “I don’t use email,” and was then shown a screenshot from another source that came from his email address. He replied, “I must have dictated that.”
At one point, Bankston informed Jones that his lawyers had mistakenly sent Bankston text messages from the past two years from Jones’ cell phone.
The lawyer also showed the court an email from an Infowars sales manager informing Jones that the company had grossed $800,000 selling its products in a single day, which would amount to nearly $300 million in a year Jones said it was the company’s best day of 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 claim he and Infowars pushed made their lives were “Hell” of death threatsonline abuse and harassment.
They led a day of testimony Tuesday that included the judge rebuking the bombastic Jones for not being truthful about 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 broadcast show telling his audience that Heslin is “slow” and is being manipulated by bad people.
“I’m a mom first and foremost and I know you’re a dad. My son existed,” Lewis told Jones. “I’m not deep state… I know you know that… And yet you’re going to leave this court 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 being admonished by the judge to remain silent until called to testify.
Heslin and Lewis are among several Sandy Hook families who have filed lawsuits alleging that claims of the Sandy Hook hoax pushed by Jones have 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 he did make it to the courtroom for part of Scarlett Lewis’ testimony. He was accompanied by several private security guards.
“It’s very important to me today and it’s been a long time coming … to stand up to 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 the jury he was holding his son with a bullet hole in the head, even describing the extent of the damage to his son’s body. A key segment of the case is a 2017 Infowars broadcast that said Heslin did not have her child.
In 2017, Heslin came out on television, telling CBS News, address the Sandy Hook deniers directly. “I lost my son. I buried my son. I held my son with a bullet hole in the head,” he said.
After that, the harassment only 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 the bullet hole in the head.'”
The jury was shown a school photo of a smiling Jesse taken two weeks before he was killed. The parents didn’t get the photo until after the shooting. They described how Jesse was known to tell teammates 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 own attorney’s question. Jones testified that he had wanted to apologize to the plaintiffs for some time.
The judge later sent the jury out of the courtroom and strongly reprimanded Jones for telling the jury that he had complied with pretrial evidence collection when he had not and that he is bankrupt, which he did not. has been determined The plaintiffs’ lawyers were furious that Jones mentioned he is bankrupt, which they worry will taint the jury’s 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 admonished Jones in his default judgment for his failure to deliver documents requested by the families of Sandy Hook. 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 have 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 compensation above $2 million “will sink us,” but added, “I think it’s appropriate for whatever you decide 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 sued Jones separately over their financial claims, arguing that the company is trying to protect millions owned by Jones and his family through shell companies.
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