FAQ: The Sandy Hook and Alex Jones defamation trials – Danbury News Times

Alex Jones, host of Infowars, lost defamation lawsuits filed by parents of children killed in the Sandy Hook tragedy, as well as an FBI agent who responded to the shooting.

Here is what to know about Jones, his failed quest for bankruptcy protection, and the defamation awards trials pending in Texas and Connecticut by Sandy Hook families.

Alex Jones is an anti-government conspiracy theorist best known for his radio show and website "Infowars." He is one of the most influential conspiracy theorists in the United States. Some of his most recognizable claims include that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax to curtail Americans' gun rights, the 9/11 terrorist attacks were an inside job, and the Parkland, Florida, shooting was carried out by actors paid by the Democratic party, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Alex Jones called the Sandy Hook massacre, where 20 students and six educators were killed, "staged," "synthetic," "manufactured," "a giant hoax," and "completely fake with actors" with inside job written all over it.

The short answer is three: two defamation lawsuits filed in Texas and a third defamation lawsuit filed in Connecticut. Jones lost all three cases by default after he was warned and later fined by judges in Texas and Connecticut over abuses of pre-trial procedure.

The next step in all three lawsuits is for a jury to decide in each case how much money Jones must pay in damages to the Sandy Hook families he defamed when he called the Sandy Hook massacre "staged," "synthetic," "manufactured," "a giant hoax" and "completely fake with actors." The first of those three trials was scheduled to begin in Texas on April 25. That didn't happen because Jones sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for three business entities he controls, which automatically froze the cases in state court.

In Texas, there are two sets of plaintiffs. The first set is the parents of slain Sandy Hook first-grader Jesse Lewis. The second set is the parents of slain Sandy Hook first-grader Noah Pozner.

In Connecticut, the plaintiffs are an FBI agent who responded to the 2012 massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and eight families who lost loved ones in the tragedy.

At each of the three trials, a jury will determine how much money Jones owes the plaintiffs. Judges in Texas and Connecticut already ruled in default judgments that Jones defamed the families, so the jury wont decide that.

Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, the parents of Jesse Lewis, have their jury trial first in Austin, Texas. Jury selection is scheduled to begin July 25, with opening arguments beginning the next day. The trial is expected to last two weeks.

The Connecticut trial is scheduled to start with jury selection on Aug. 2 the second week of the Texas trial. But jury selection there will take about a month. The trial is expected to start Sept. 6.

The trial with Noah Pozners parents, Lenny Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, could begin as soon as September.

The Texas judge postponed an April trial for the parents of Jesse Lewis because three entities owned by Jones filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy about a week before the trial would have begun. The bankruptcy filings held up the Connecticut case, too.

The Sandy Hook families in Texas, and later in Connecticut, requested a federal judge to dismiss the filings, arguing they were in bad faith.

It's important to note that while Jones' representatives say Jones has suffered financially because of the Sandy Hook lawsuits, spending $10 million on legal fees, and losing $20 million in sales, Jones himself did not file for bankruptcy, nor did his parent company, Free Speech Systems.

After about a month, a federal bankruptcy judge released Jones from Chapter 11 protection, clearing the way for the Texas trial to resume. The Sandy Hook families in Connecticut agreed to drop the three Jones-controlled entities under bankruptcy from the defamation lawsuit, allowing the Connecticut trial to go ahead.

Jones has used his platform to share disinformation about COVID-19, the vaccine and treatments, including ivermectin.

Jones met with the Jan. 6 committee that's investigating the insurrection on the U.S. Capitol. According to his lawyer, in a report, he pleaded the Fifth Amendment over 100 times.

The popular "Full Send" podcast hosted Alex Jones a week after President Donald Trump appeared on the show in March 2022. Jones offered an explanation as to why the YouTube version of the Trump interview was deleted off the platform.

An open critic of cryptocurrency, Jones was gifted over $2 million worth of Bitcoin from an anonymous donor in April 2022 as the radio host faced financial difficulty due to his lawsuits with the Sandy Hook families.

Derek Turner and Rob Ryser contributed to this report.

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FAQ: The Sandy Hook and Alex Jones defamation trials - Danbury News Times