Texas Sandy Hook Lawsuit (Heslin v. Jones)
A lawsuit by parents and family members of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting. It alleges that false statements Jones made claiming that the shooting was fake or staged were defamatory towards the victims and their family members.
In October of 2021, and after years of sanctionable conduct by the Jones Defendants, Judge Maya Gamble issued a default judgement, meaning that Jones and his companies are presumed to have committed the alleged conduct and will have to pay damages. The trial to determine the amount of damages took place from July 25th to August 5th 2022. On August 4th, after 8 hours of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of $4.1M in compensatory damages against Alex Jones and Free Speech Systems. Following further argumentation on August 5th, the jury returned later that afternoon with a verdict of $45.2M in punitive damages. Texas law caps punitive damages, meaning it's likely that the final judgment will result in much lower punitive damages (anywhere from $750,000 to $6M).
There is two very similar cases, Posner v. Jones in Texas and Lafferty v. Jones in Connecticut. All have different family members as plaintiffs.
Parties
Plaintiffs
Defendants
- Alex E. Jones
- Infowars, LLC (Removed after bankruptcy)
- Free Speech Systems, LLC
Trial
The trial began with Jury Selection on July 25, 2022. It is expected to be a two week trial, with deliberation starting around August 5th, 2022.
In opening statements, on July 26th 2022, Plaintiffs asked for an award of $150M, framing this as $2 for each person in the US who believes sandy hook conspiracy ($1 for reputation damage, with the logic that emotional harm is as important as reputation). Defendants asked for the jury to award $1 total.
During the afternoon first day of trial, Tuesday July 26th, Alex (a named Defendant) left the courtroom and appeared on the Alex Jones Show with Owen Shroyer (a witness). The discussed the trial. Because "The Rule" had been invoked, this was an extremely questionable decision, and the Judge questioned Owen about if he had been advised he was under the rule on the 28th. Owen claimed that Andino Reynal had failed to advise him of this.
During a break on Friday the 29th, Reynal informed the court that Free Speech Systems had filed for Bankruptcy in the Southern District of Texas. He further informed the court that FSS intended to have the trial continue. An initial hearing on the bankruptcy, including the motion allowing the Trial to continue, happened Monday August 1st starting at 8:30 AM Central. The Judge allowed the trial to continue before 9 AM Central because all parties were in agreement.
| Name | Role | Calling Party | Dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daniel Jewiss | Sandy Hook Lead Investigator | Plaintiffs | July 26th, 2022 |
| Daria Karpova | FSS Corporate Representative
InfoWars Video Producer |
Plaintiffs | July 26th, 2022
July 27th, 2022 July 28th, 2022 |
| Owen Shroyer | InfoWars Show Host / Reporter | Plaintiffs | July 28th, 2022
July 29th, 2022 |
| Rob Johnson (via Deposition Video) | Ex-InfoWars Employee, Whistleblower | Plaintiffs | July 29th, 2022 |
| Dan Bidondi (via Deposition Video) | Ex-InfoWars Employee, on-site "Reporter" for Sandy Hook | Plaintiffs | July 29th, 2022 |
| Fred Zipp | Expert Witness (Journalistic Practice / Ethics) | Plaintiffs | July 29th, 2022 |
| Kit Daniels (via Deposition Video) | InfoWars Journalist / Editor | Plaintiffs | July 29th, 2022 |
| Becca Lewis | Expert Witness (Communication of Misinformation and Conspiracy Spread) | Plaintiffs | July 29th, 2022 |
| Adan Salazar (via Deposition Video) | InfoWars Editor | Plaintiffs | August 1st, 2022 |
| Brittney Paz (via Deposition Video) | Hired Corporate Representative | Plaintiffs | August 1st, 2022 |
| Roy Lubit | Expert Witness (Forensic psychiatrist specializing in trauma) | Plaintiffs | August 1st, 2022 |
| Michael Crouch | Psychotherapist (for both Heslin and Lewis) | Plaintiffs | August 1st, 2022 |
| Neil Heslin | Father of Jesse Lewis / Plaintiff | Plaintiffs | August 2nd, 2022 |
| Scarlett Lewis | Mother of Jesse Lewis / Plaintiff | Plaintiffs | August 2nd, 2022 |
| Alex Jones | Defendant | Defendants | August 2nd, 2022
August 3rd, 2022 |
| Bernard Pettingill, Jr. | Expert Witness (Forensic economist and former economics professor) | Plaintiffs | August 5th, 2022 |
Legal Counsel
Especially on the defendants' side, there have been a lot of lawyers involved.
Representing the Plaintiffs
Representing the Defendants
This is in a rough reverse chronological order of when they left the case. Current counsel should be most recent.
- Andino Reynal
- Jacquelyn Blott
- Eric Taube
- Michael Burnett
- Bradley Reeves
- T. Wade Jefferies
- Robert Barnes
- Mark Enoch
Other Roles
- Judge Maya Gamble has presided over most of the case.
- Brittany Paz has appeared as a corporate representative (not as an attorney) for various corporate defendants.
- Randall Wilhite maybe did something according to Bill Ogden, but exactly what is unclear[1].
- Marc Randazza appears to have been involved early on in the legal response but never formally represented Jones/FSS in Texas. His Pro Hac Vice was denied.
- Norm Pattis filed a Pro Hac Vice to represent Alex in TX, but was denied.
