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| Photo Credit: AP. |
WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) — Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones took the stand Thursday at his defamation trial in Connecticut as he and his lawyer try to limit damages he must pay for promoting the lie that the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax.
More than a
dozen family members of some of the 20 children and six educators killed in the
shooting also showed up to observe his testimony in Waterbury Superior Court,
which is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) away from Newtown.
Jones has
been in Connecticut this week in preparation for his appearance. He held a news
conference Wednesday outside the courthouse, bashing the proceedings — as he
has on his Infowars show — as a “travesty of justice” and calling the judge a
“tyrant.” He made similar comments on his way into the courthouse Thursday,
indicating he may invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination
and not answer some questions.
“This is not
really a trial,” he said. “This is a show trial, a literal kangaroo court.”
Plaintiffs
attorneys began by asking Jones whether he believed Judge Barbara Bellis was a
tyrant and whether he calls a lot of people tyrants.
“Only when
they act like it,” he said.
Several
victims’ relatives, meanwhile, have given emotional testimony during the trial
about being traumatized by people calling the shooting fake, including
confrontations at their homes and in public, and messages including death and
rape threats. The plaintiffs include an FBI agent who responded to the shooting
and relatives of eight of the victims.
Bellis last
year found Jones liable by default for damages to plaintiffs without a trial,
as punishment for what she called his repeated failures to turn over documents
to their lawyers. The six-member jury only will be deciding how much Jones and
Free Speech Systems, Infowars’ parent company, should pay the families for
defaming them and intentionally inflicting emotional distress.
Bellis began
the day going over with Jones the topics he cannot testify about — including
free speech rights, the Sandy Hook families $73 million settlement earlier this
year with gun maker Remington (the company made the Bushmaster rifle used to
kill the victims at Sandy Hook), the percentage of Jones’ shows that discussed
Sandy Hook and whether he profited from those shows or a similar case in Texas.
“This is not
the appropriate forum for you to offer that testimony,” Bellis said. Jones
indicated that he understood.
Bellis said
in court on Wednesday that she was prepared to handle any incendiary testimony
from Jones, with contempt of court proceedings if necessary.
Jones also
was found liable by default in two similar lawsuits over the hoax lies in his
hometown of Austin, Texas, where a jury in one of the trials ordered Jones last
month to pay nearly $50 million in damages to the parents of one of the
children killed. A third trial in Texas is expected to begin near the end of
the year.
When Jones
faced the Texas jury last month and testified under oath, he toned down his
rhetoric. He said he realized the hoax lies were irresponsible and the school
shooting was “100% real.”
“I unintentionally took part in things that
did hurt these people’s feelings,” testified Jones, who also acknowledged
raising conspiracy claims about other mass tragedies, from the Oklahoma City
and Boston Marathon bombings to the mass shootings in Las Vegas and Parkland,
Florida, “and I’m sorry for that.”
Jones had
portrayed the Sandy Hook shooting as staged by crisis actors as part of gun
control efforts.
Testimony at
the current trial also has focused on website analytics data run by Infowars
employees showing how its sales of dietary supplements, food, clothing and
other items spiked around the time Jones talked about the Sandy Hook shooting.
Evidence,
including internal Infowars emails and depositions, also shows dissention
within the company about pushing the hoax lies.
Jones’
lawyer Norman Pattis is arguing that any damages should be limited and accused
the victims’ relatives of exaggerating the harm the lies caused them.
The
relatives have testified that they continue to fear for their safety because of
what the hoax believers have done and might do.
Jennifer Hensel,
whose 6-year-old daughter Avielle Richman was among the slain, testified
Wednesday that she still monitors her surroundings, even checking the back seat
of her car, for safety reasons. She said she is trying to shield her two
children, ages 7 and 5, from the hoax lies. A juror cried during her testimony.
“They’re so
young,” she said of her children. “Their innocence is so beautiful right now.
And at some point there are a horde of people out there who could hurt them.”