Law&Crime Sidebar - Top Moments of Alex Jones Sandy Hook Defamation Trial Day One

Episode Date: September 13, 2022

Jesse Weber breaks down some of the top moments from Day 1 of Alex Jones Connecticut trial, including the Court punishing the Infowars host.LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael Deininger Guest Booking - Alyssa FisherSocial Media Management - Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaCoptales and CocktailsThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. views shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. It is our contention that Mr. Jones, that the plaintiffs in this case exaggerate the harm that he caused to him, or that he caused them, and they exaggerate it for political reasons. It is day one of the Alex Jones trial out in Connecticut, and what a start it was. We're going to break down some of the most notable moments. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime.

I'm Jesse Weber. Alex Jones' second trial is underway. The InfoWorse host and conspiracy theorists is facing another trial this time out in Connecticut. And as you might recall, we covered Jones's Texas trial this past summer when he was sued by the parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, who tragically died. in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. They sued him and he's facing this Connecticut trial because of his comments that Sandy Hook was a hoax, that these were crisis actors, that this was a staged event.

And the parents in Texas testified about the pain and the harm these statements caused them. And the jury in that trial awarded the plaintiffs almost $50 million in damages and there's still an outstanding question of how much he'll actually end up paying out. But now we find ourselves in Waterbury, Connecticut. This is the same state where Sandy Hook happened.

And the plaintiffs in this case are eight Sandy Hook families, the victim's family members, as well as an FBI agent. And they are suing under several theories. They're suing under defamation, both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, unfair trade practices act, and invasion of privacy. And this jury of six will have the same task as the Texas jury, not if Jones is liable for any of this, but purely how much he owes. Because Jones already lost this case through a default judgment. The same thing happened in Texas. That's what happens when you refuse to comply with discovery obligations and a litigation. You don't participate.

You don't comply with court orders. The court is going to say you automatically lose. And that is what happened to Alex Jones. So now it's just a question of how much does he owe? How much does he have to pay in damages? Now, Jones wasn't in court for day one, but we do expect him to take the stand and testify. So that will clearly be something to see. Now, before the jury was brought in and before there were even instructions, before there

were opening statements. Alex Jones took a massive loss. The plaintiff's attorney accused Jones of basically concealing evidence, and this centered upon a Google Analytics document that Jones was hoping to use to prove that he didn't financially benefit or profit for his comments about Sandy Hook. And the plaintiff said that Jones refused to turn over these documents, refused to turn over this information, and basically said this Google Analytics document didn't exist. Now, this isn't too surprising because again this is someone who lost these lawsuits refusing to comply with court orders. But here, Judge Barbara Bellis was not too happy and hit Jones with a major sanction. Following observation, this stunningly cavalier attitude with respect to their discovery obligations

is what led to the default in the first place. The defendants have consistently engaged in dilatory and obstructive discovery practices from the inception of these cases right through to the trial. And finally, I will note that there is, there is no notice in this file to this minute of any supplemental compliance producing the Google analytic documents,

which is required by the practice book, but was also required by my clear court order of September 30, 2021, which apparently was not. not followed. For these reasons and the court hereby sanctions the defendants by precluding them from presenting evidence or argument that they did not profit from the Sandy Hooker coverage. That is a big blow to Jones because in these kinds of cases establishing the link between the statement and the harm or the statement and the money earned is key. After all, I mean, if you think about it, that's the whole case. As a result of,

Jones is wrongdoing, and he's already lost this case, it's already been determined he engaged in wrongdoing. How much did he profit off of it? So now that Jones isn't allowed to argue that he didn't profit off of the Sandy Hook comments, that really debilitates his defense. But if I had to guess, if I were a betting man, Jones, as I said, will take the stand. He will probably say this nonetheless, or try to say this. And I can imagine a scenario where he says that he didn't profit profit off of Sandy Hook and be admonished by the court that there would be an objection. Because, again, due to this default judgment, he can't say that he's innocent to the jury. He can't say that he didn't intend this or that.

That was for the trial portion of this case. That's over. This is all about how much he owes. And you know what? I am not alone in thinking that Jones could be a bit unhinged because listen to what the judge said she might do. My bit as things develop, and especially if there are issues, further issues, then we're new your request, and I would be inclined to do so right in the midst of the witness.

And I am going to deal with Mr. Jones when he testifies. That's what I'm understood. I do expect, as I discussed Attorney Patis, and I thought you were on board with it, I expected to canvas him on the issues that were off limits. The law of the case is not complicated, but I do think the court is, we would not object to a candidate. And I did tell you that if there are issues, I will address contempt on the spot. Well, I mean, that I don't have any reason. Well, Attorney Pattis, I'm just telling you, I'm telling you now, I believe you said the last time that you can't remember your exact words that, but something along the lines, I thought, that you weren't going to be able to control what he said.

So I'm just laying it out there now, putting everybody on notice. So I know you'll do your job, Attorney Pattis, and explain to him. What is awful omens. Yikes. All right, let's move on to the opening statements. So this is the moment where each side takes the time to lay out their case for the jury. And what can the jury expect to see? What is their main argument going to be?

And remember, this is an outline. These are just statements. They're not evidence to be considered by the jury. So with that in mind, let's get into these opening statements. And first up was an attorney for the plaintiff's Chris Mate. And he started by calling Alex Jones a. bully. Know the importance of standing up to bullies when they pray on people who are helpless

and profit from them? And to know that unless you stop a bully, a bully will never stop himself. And when it comes to stopping Alex Jones, that will be the most important work that you do here. And we're all here because of him, one man, Alex Jones. I'm going to be displaying some slides here throughout the presentation. This is Alex Jones, and this is his company, InfoWars. We'll be referring to it as InfoWars throughout the case, but it's free speech system to the same. And from there, he got into what InfoWars was all about, what kind of work they do.

And he made it clear that what Jones has been doing for the last 20 years is promoting conspiracy theories, that there is this network of global elites that want to enslave and kill you. And the plaintiff's attorney talked about how much Info Wars has grown over the years, that this became a radio show that was syndicated across the country. There's live streaming on Infowars.com and that Alex Jones has amassed a huge audience. He sells these supplements online. He's bringing in money. And apparently Jones was so concerned with how much money that the company is bringing in that

the plaintiff's even highlighted a text message to his sales manager at around, I think, 7 a.m. Where he says, how are we doing so far? And again, this is all important because if you think about this, this was also highlighted by the plaintiff's attorney that apparently between 2011 and November. 2012, right before Sandy Hook happened, InfoWars had 468 million page views, 76 million users. That is huge. And they highlighted this to the jury to show that right before Sandy Hook, the plaintiff's attorney says that was the audience that was ready to tune in to the next outrage.

And according to plaintiffs, that's exactly what happened. Because when Sandy Hook hit in December 2012, Jones immediately said that this was a hoax, that this was a staged event. He claimed that it was all the way to take guns away from the American people. And he promotes this message not only in 2012, but 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and there's even a mention in 2021. The idea is that he keeps promoting this and he keeps profiting off of it. I'll give you what. Here's a sample of what Jones did.

We go into January. Now it's clear. They're crisis actors. They're actors. It's all hoax. January 10th. I'm another one. January 10th, Sandy Hook

AR-15 hoax, still knows school surveillance footage. And then on January 27th, we're about six weeks out from the shooting. Why people think Sandy Hook is a hoaxing. He puts Robbie out there. He slows down the video,

calls it method acting. And I want you to think about what it means to have millions and millions of fear-striction. people who believe that you are part of a plot to take away their rights what it means to have that many people thinking that about you and according to plaintiffs people were believing this they started harassing the victim's family members info war saw tremendous growth i believe he said

that the page views went up by 40 or over 40 percent and then of course there's the question of how much Jones was actually bringing in. What does that mean to the bottom line? September 24th, this day he published the article. Now, this is just one of his sales platforms. He's got a bunch of sports. This is just one. On September 24th, the day he publishes it,

he brings in $48,000 on that day. Look at the next day. $232,000 in a day, just on that one platform. Then it drops off a little the next day except September 26, $128,000. Then it drops off again. What you're seeing there is a relationship

between the lie, the audience, and the money he's rated. Now, $230,000 a day sounds pretty good. Wait until the year what he was making just recently. So where was all this coming from? He talks about the audience that was growing. In 2014, the year that article went viral, this was his social media audience. 2.2 billion impressions on social media.

Billion. This is in 2050. 2.9 billion. Facebook alone in 2016, 4.1 billion. And look at what happens. You're gonna see this text message. Just the one I was telling you about. Jones wakes up.

Just wondering how dollar sign we are. sign we are. We ended up about 810,000 yesterday. One day. Do the matter. So clearly, the plaintiffs are coming out strong, that the jury should come back with a strong monetary judgment, a large damages award to stop Alex Jones. All right. So we heard the opening statements in Alex Jones's defamation trial. We heard the plaintiffs really articulating the danger of what Alex Joneses did, the money that he was bringing in, how he promoted the Sandy Hook denial claim for years. Well, here was the defense's response from attorney Norm Patis. If you live in time with a deep political division, you know, you know it, you know it, I know it.

One of the issues dividing us is guns. Their possession, their control, their use, their divides their deep in this country right now, Even dangerous. Don't let anyone tell you that this trial is a means of stopping of their lives,

of discussing gun violence. We're not here to make political statements to reform the world, to take a stand to get to extreme speech. This trial is not a cultural moment. It's not even about stopping Alex Jones. I was stunned

to hear my adversary's opening statements. The judge told you why we're here. Hearing and damages. Liability has been determined. What can they prove, given what's reasonable? We went 15 minutes into the closing argument and heard a wholesale attack on Alex Jones and you were asked to do something not related to your mission. Stop it. It was 25 minutes in before the word, 35 minutes and before the word damages even was arisen arose and then and then we'll trust you to give them damages and their damages is stopping Alex Jones let me be bold here to decide for you or to ask you to decide for the millions of

fools the millions of deplorables the millions of mega Republicans what people can and can't watch in this country because they transformed their hearing and damages. They transformed money into a political weapon to strive. And we're going to ask you to disarm now. We don't want you to do anything here, but follow the law as the court instruction on it. That is your obligation. No more, no less. And their main argument, their main argument, is that if you silence Alex Jones, you are doing a greater harm to society. That Alex Jones has a right to question. He is a right to fuel political debate. That if you silence him, you are endangering that right. And they said that if you do this to Alex Jones, Pattis said this could happen to someone else.

Who next? And Pattis would ask the jury, when did political debate become toxic? And he emphasized how Jones had a legitimate concern about protecting gun rights. And for this, should he be silence for that? Should he be silenced forever? Because that's what a large damages award would do. And yes, he did get a bit colorful in his language. He said, if you do this, then you'll have to silence Greta Thunberg because of what she says about climate change. Clearly, there was an objection when he said that. And he said, look, if you do this, it's really going to be detrimental. He's not only advocating for a modest damages award on this front, but what Patis also did, and I would say is this probably to be a stronger legal argument, is he's trying to break down the link between what.

Jones said and the harm that was suffered by the plaintiffs. And again, that becomes very crucial in these kinds of cases. What did you suffer as a result of what Alex Jones said and did? That becomes the key element. And now during Patis's opening, I should mention that there were many objections that were sustained by the judge because he began to cross the line into arguments that he wasn't permitted to make. Remember, with these default judgments levied against Alex Jones, he's limited in what he can say. He can't say he's innocent. And this was such a problem that the plaintiffs ask the court to step in. Your Honor, we have a request for a curative instruction. What I expect when Alex Jones comes up here, he's going to violate the court's orders. I expect that. I do not expect Attorney Pattis in his opening to try and unwind the default by repeatedly stating and suggesting that Alex Jones was just questioning, are we going to, are we going to silence the crazy person in the town square for just, he was doing it by referring to the other

events that Alex Jones has questioned. The jury is going to be instructed. that Alex Jones intended these statements knowing that they were false. And so we need a curative instruction at the outset because what Attorney Pattis has done has injected not only politics, but he's injected this idea that Alex Jones was merely questioning when the jury is going to be instructed in the courts, determined that he intentionally inflicted emotional distress, that he intentionally lied, that he acted with malice. Now, before we wrap up some of the highlights of day one, I do want to leave you with

this. The first witness to testify in this Connecticut trial is one of the plaintiffs, FBI agent Bill Aldenberg. And to give you a sense, I think this is important to end with. Just look what happens, listen to what happens as he tries to testify about Sandy Hope. Team doctor received a call from one of the paramedics from the state police team. It was something about, Something in Newtown. So when you think about this tragedy, and when you think about the effect that it had on people, including the investigators, and when you think about what it was like to be called a crisis actor, to have to hear that this was all fake, that you didn't lose your child, and that you're harassed.

You can see not only why this lawsuit was filed, but more importantly, why a damages award could be very significant to the actions of Alex Jones. We're going to continue to follow this trial. here on Sidebar, including when Alex Jones makes an appearance and testifies. But in the meantime, thanks for joining us. Here on Sidebar, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcast. I'm Jesse Weber. Speak to you next time. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.