Friction erupts during Alex Jones’ Sandy Hook defamation jury selection
Scores of jurors in a Texas courtroom said they could not be fair and unbiased calculating how much money Alex Jones should pay the parents of a slain Sandy Hook boy Jones defamed because of their belief in free speech, and their objection that awards of $100 million are simply too high.
“I believe people have to be accountable for what they say, but I think we are entitled to freedom of speech,” said a man identified as juror No. 9 during questioning Monday in Austin's Travis County Courtroom.
“I am hearing you say that you don't like defamation lawsuits because we live in a free society and therefore because of that bias it would be hard for you to make a decision?” said the parents' attorney Wesley Ball in a packed court filled with a jury pool of 100 people. “Is that fair?”
“I don't know if I have a bias,” the juror objected.
“But you are agreeing that this
is going to make it difficult for you to follow the law, the facts and the judge’s instructions, because of this deeply held belief that you have?”
“Yes,” the juror said.
The exchange between Ball and the potential juror was typical of the elimination process the parents’ legal team followed during the morning session of jury selection.
Ball weeded out more jurors by asking if they were philosophically opposed to jury awards as high as $100 million, and by asking if they would require a standard of proof higher than “the preponderance of evidence” in reaching a conclusion.
Alex Jones’ lead attorney Andino Reynal examined the jury pool later in the afternoon.
The trial to determine how much Jones will pay in defamation damages will begin Tuesday with opening statements once a jury of 12 is impaneled.
It’s the first of three such trials for Sandy Hook families who won defamation lawsuits against Jones in 2021 after he called the massacre of 26 first graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary school “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “completely fake with actors.”
Neither Alex Jones nor the parents were in the courtroom Monday for what Jones’ attorney called “an extraordinarily important case for Alex Jones and an extraordinarily important case for free speech.”
“Alex Jones is a very controversial figure and a very polarizing figure,” Reynal told the packed courtroom. “There is nothing more I want more than for the 12 people who sit on this case to look back 20 years from now and say, ‘This is a verdict I can be proud of.’”
There will be no rearguing of the case against Jones that was decided last year when a Texas judge defaulted him for abusing the pretrial process and found him
liable for damages. Instead, the jury will hear the extent of emotional distress suffered by Sandy Hook parents Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, and how much Jones should pay in compensatory damages and punitive damages.
In discussing the difference between compensating damages and punishing damages, a juror noted that punishment should be strict enough to serve as a warning.
“To be a punishment it has to be a deterrent so they don’t go on and do the same act again,” said juror 44.
“Have you heard any evidence in this case?” Reynal asked the potential juror. “Have you read news articles?”
“I have heard commentary about it,” juror 44 said.
“Have you formed a strong belief ?” Reynal asked.
“Yes,” the juror responded.
“Do you feel that this belief — no matter the evidence, the law and the judge’s instructions — would affect your decision in this case?” Reynal asked.
“It would made it very hard,” juror 44 said.
Reynal went on to ask for a show of hands about how many jurors had formed a “firm negative impression” of Jones. Some 15 jurors raised their hands.
On Thursday Jones posted a rebuttal about limits being placed on evidence at the jury trial, calling it “an unprecedented assault on due process and the rule of law.”
It is not clear whether Jones himself will take the witness stand. The parents’ attorneys are not saying whether they will ask him to testify in person or whether they’ll show the jury excerpts from Jones’ deposition. If the past is any indication, Jones’ may provide his own commentary about the trial on his Infowars platform.
At stake in the trial for the parents is hope that a damages verdict will flood light into dark corners where fiction persists that the worst crime in modern Connecticut history never happened.