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Huge Verdict Against Alex Jones — Transcript

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0:00dwarf goblins
0:01i mean she literally looks like a goblin
0:03i'm just telling you and acts like a
0:05goblin just because you claim to think
0:07something is true does not make it true
0:09the jury awards almost 50 million
0:11dollars in damages against alex jones
0:13and his companies for defaming the
0:15parents of children killed in the sandy
0:16hook massacre after years of being
0:19targeted by alex jones the parents
0:20finally had their chance to address
0:22jones to his face in court and things
0:24did not go well for jones just how bad
0:28was it so bad that former prosecutor
0:30mitchell epner said in over 25 years as
0:32a trial lawyer i have never seen a
0:33witness do more damage to himself on the
0:35stand than alex jones and that includes
0:37a case where i was ausa where i got a
0:39defendant to admit that he was guilty of
0:41the crime charged in the indictment it
0:43was so bad that also former prosecutor
0:45ken white said it was like an action
0:47movie where it's not enough that the bad
0:49guy gets shot or stabbed at the end he's
0:51got to be like decapitated and exploded
0:53and impaled at the same time but let's
0:54start at the beginning why was alex
0:56jones on trial in 2012 a lone gunman
0:59murdered six adults and 20 children at
1:00the sandy hook elementary school in
1:02newtown connecticut alex jones and his
1:04associate alan troyer and wolfgang
1:06helbig said that the event was a hoax
1:08that did not happen the whole thing was
1:10a giant hoax the jones gang accused the
1:12bereaved family members of being quote
1:14crisis actors and it just shows how bold
1:16they are
1:18that they clearly
1:19used actors and jones and his
1:21correspondents repeated those claims on
1:23infowars broadcast okay so just another
1:26question that people are now going to be
1:28asking about sandy hook alex jones's
1:31fans harassed the parents online and at
1:33their homes and after several years of
1:35this some of the sandy hook families
1:36sued jones for defamation in connecticut
1:38and texas during his deposition in one
1:40of the other sandy hook cases lawyers
1:42played clips of jones mocking the
1:44parents and calling their tears bad
1:45acting my problem is i've watched a lot
1:47of stuff propers
1:49and i've seen actors before
1:52and i know when i'm watching the movie
1:53when i'm watching something real and in
1:54response to those clips jones admitted i
1:56wrote that he knew his statements were
1:58false after his deposition jones and
1:59infowars denied having emails text
2:02messages and other material about the
2:03sandy hook claims
2:05jones and his lawyers then ignored court
2:07orders to produce documents in texas and
2:09connecticut and spoiler alert during the
2:11damages trial we found out that they
2:13lied about having this material when one
2:15of his lawyers accidentally sent
2:17jones's entire cell phone and a whole
2:20bunch of other documents to opposing
2:21counsel your attorneys messed up and
2:23sent me an entire digital copy of your
2:27entire cell phone with every text
2:29message you've sent for the past two
2:32years and jones has a whole pattern of
2:33disregarding discovery obligations in
2:35other cases as well and some people have
2:38claimed that jones has gotten railroaded
2:40by having liability conceded
2:43by default and that jones's
2:45constitutional rights have been
2:47infringed
2:48that is not the case here uh here uh it
2:51was a strategic choice by jones and his
2:54attorney to not turn documents over all
2:56the while claiming that they never
2:57possessed relevant documents and that
2:59those documents didn't exist we know now
3:01that that is not the case that it was a
3:03strategic choice to hold those documents
3:05back never turn them over and then face
3:07the repercussions
3:08in court which is what they basically
3:10have done and why liability was
3:12conceited but i'm not going to seal the
3:14entire quantity of information
3:17without knowing what's in it when the
3:18rules weren't followed properly and
3:21taking all of that into consideration
3:22the judges in all 10 sandy hook cases
3:24entered default judgments against jones
3:26and his companies a default judgment
3:28happens when the defendant in a civil
3:30case fails to do something
3:32such as ignoring court summons missing a
3:34court date or disregarding the judge's
3:36direct orders and if this occurs a court
3:39may rule in favor of the plaintiff by
3:41default and this is very rare a default
3:43judgment is the most serious sanction a
3:44judge can impose during a civil trial
3:46judges do not enter default judgments
3:48very often but if you want to learn more
3:50about why the default judgments were
3:52entered against jones check out my video
3:53on the topic i have an entire video on
3:55the pre-damages portion of this trial
3:58but this particular case that we're
3:59talking about today is the first of
4:00three upcoming trials that will decide
4:02how much money jones and his companies
4:04must pay in damages it was filed by neil
4:06heslin and scarlett lewis who are the
4:07parents of six-year-old jesse lewis who
4:09was killed at sandy hook and since the
4:11default judgments were issued jones
4:13couldn't contest liability the trial was
4:15only about how much jones must pay and
4:17the plaintiffs sought 150 million
4:19dollars in compensatory and punitive
4:20damages so what did the plaintiff say
4:23during trial well neil heslin was the
4:25first plaintiff to testify i can't even
4:26describe
4:29the last nine and a half years of the
4:31living hell
4:32that
4:33i and others have had to endure
4:36because of the negligence and the
4:38recklessness of alex jones he and lewis
4:41said that strangers have confronted them
4:43everywhere including at their homes
4:44haslam's house and car have been shot by
4:46people yelling out alex jones somebody
4:48drove by my home yet shouting out the
4:50window alex jones
4:52and
4:53sounded like gunfire coming from the
4:55vehicle heslin gave heart-wrenching
4:57testimony about holding his son and
4:59seeing that he had a bullet hole through
5:01his head owen troyer went on jones's
5:03program and said that heslin lied about
5:05holding his son's body i think it's time
5:08for you to explain this contradiction in
5:10the narrative and this is apparently
5:12what prompted heslin and lewis to fight
5:14back alex started this fight
5:18and i'll finish this fight now jones
5:20wasn't in court to hear heslin's
5:21testimony about jesse it's not necessary
5:24to show up to court but you know usually
5:26you do want to do that
5:27instead while heslin testified uh jones
5:30did a live show where he called heslin
5:32slow and autistic and accused him of
5:34being manipulated by lawyers
5:38he's slow okay
5:39this was not a good strategy because
5:41this clip was then played in court for
5:44the jury just a few days later i mean i
5:46didn't cancel and act like somebody on
5:48the spectrum it supported one of the
5:49plaintiff's key claims that jones has
5:51spent years ridiculing the sandy hook
5:53parents and that he can't control
5:55himself or his employees who continue to
5:57harass the families now after court
5:59heslin and jones had a confrontation
6:01where jones again called hesland a slow
6:03person who was being manipulated by
6:04lawyers jones also ripped the judge on
6:06his infowars program and they're all
6:09caricatures of what you would imagine in
6:11some alternate universe of
6:13dwarf goblins
6:15it's demonic they all act demonically
6:18possessed the judge the lawyers now part
6:20of our job as lawyers is client control
6:22we tell our clients not to talk about
6:24their cases in public don't post on
6:26facebook don't share things in the media
6:29don't talk with friends and family but
6:30ultimately though it's up to the client
6:32to demonstrate some self-control judge
6:34goblin here in austin
6:36i mean she literally looks like a goblin
6:38i'm just telling you
6:39and acts like a goblin even the greatest
6:41lawyers in history would probably be
6:43powerless to stop jones from you know
6:46being himself and then there was the
6:47testimony of plaintiff scarlett lewis uh
6:50jones was again not in court for the
6:51first half of scarlett lewis's testimony
6:53uh when he finally arrived he was
6:54accompanied by a team of bodyguards uh
6:56lewis addressed her testimony directly
6:58to jones uh while he sat at the defense
7:01table i am a mother first and foremost
7:04and i know that you're a father
7:06and my son existed
7:08i know you believe me
7:10and yet you're gonna get you're gonna
7:12leave this courthouse
7:14and you're gonna say it again on your
7:15show at one point louis directly asked
7:17jones do you think i'm an actress
7:23no you can't talk right now sorry now
7:25lewis told jones that he makes claims
7:27about the massacre that he knows or lies
7:29but when you say those things
7:32there's a fringe of society that believe
7:34you
7:36that are actually dangerous and lewis
7:38emphasized the deep trauma that she has
7:40because of jones and his followers it
7:42seems
7:43so
7:44incredible to me
7:47that we have to do this
7:52that we have to
7:54implore you
7:57not just import you
7:59punish you
8:00to get you to stop lying a forensic
8:03psychologist who met heslin and lewis
8:04said both suffer from a form of
8:07post-traumatic stress disorder that
8:08comes from constant trauma uh jones
8:11lawyer reynold had a tough time handling
8:13these witnesses on cross-examination
8:14because it would be incredibly hard to
8:16cross-examine these witnesses at one
8:18point he suggested that it would be more
8:19healing for lewis and heslin to sit down
8:21and talk through the trauma with alex
8:22jones than it would to file a lawsuit on
8:25cross-examination jones's lawyer grilled
8:27lewis about her finances noting her book
8:28contract and speaking engagements can
8:30you tell the members of the jury how
8:32much is the suggested honorarium for
8:34your speaking movement
8:36um
8:38it may be five thousand dollars
8:41could ten be more accurate it could be
8:42ten and he said that she makes more than
8:44enough to pay for her own therapy now
8:47i'm gonna go out on a limb here and say
8:48that this question probably did not go
8:50over particularly well with the jury and
8:52then there's this testimony of alex
8:54jones himself when he took the stand he
8:56told plaintiffs that he's always wanted
8:58to apologize that i never intentionally
9:00tried to hurt you i never even said your
9:03name until this case
9:05came to court
9:06i didn't even know who you were until a
9:08couple years ago when all this started
9:10up
9:11the internet had a lot of questions i
9:12had questions jones argued that he made
9:14a few inquiries about whether sandy hook
9:16was a false flag operation and then the
9:18mainstream media reported on what he
9:20said and turned everything into a circus
9:21the media jones said created an
9:24atmosphere where nobody knew what the
9:26facts were so there was no real way for
9:28him to get it right jones and his lawyer
9:30argue that the sandy hook parents were
9:31victimized four times by the shooter by
9:33truthers by politicians and by everyone
9:35else who took their grief and weaponized
9:37it in other words it wasn't his fault
9:40now on cross-examination jones also
9:41admitted that he basically called every
9:43major event of the last decade a false
9:45flag incident engineered by the
9:47government now the judge was not pleased
9:48by any of this you've probably seen the
9:50incendiary clips of the judge telling
9:52jones to stop lying under oath you're
9:54already under oath to tell the truth
9:57you've already violated that oath twice
10:01today now the judge admonished jones for
10:03a number of different things the first
10:04was telling the jury that he was
10:05bankrupt uh jones repeatedly testified
10:08that he only makes money selling uh
10:10prepackaged uh prepper food for like an
10:13apocalypse everything else uh was money
10:15losing that he claimed but plaintiffs
10:17had already shown that infowars was
10:19making a lot of money as much as eight
10:21hundred thousand dollars a day during
10:22certain events and one of his employees
10:24testified that the company makes about
10:25uh 50 million dollars annually that's
10:27what the document says though faced with
10:30three upcoming trials jones and his
10:32companies have started bankruptcy
10:34proceedings now when a company files for
10:36chapter 11 protection it tends to stay
10:39the other legal proceedings jones has
10:41many llc's but the biggest company is
10:44free speech systems free speech systems
10:46filed for bankruptcy in texas so jones's
10:48lawyer moved to stay the the connecticut
10:50proceedings which is a different case
10:52but this was the second delay in the
10:54connecticut case because of bankruptcy
10:55maneuvers back in april infowars and two
10:58of its subsidiaries infowars health llc
11:01and prison planet llc also filed for
11:03bankruptcy protection now these entities
11:05were removed as named defendants so that
11:07the damages proceedings could move
11:09forward now free speech systems listed
11:1114.3 million in assets including over a
11:14million dollars in cash and almost 1.6
11:16million in property in equipment however
11:17the petition claimed the company had 79
11:20million dollars in liabilities including
11:22a 54 million debt owed to something
11:24called pqpr holdings now who owns pqpr
11:28holdings well it's carol jones and david
11:30jones also known as alex jones's mom and
11:33dad and the sandy hook plaintiffs
11:34believe the bankruptcy proceedings are a
11:36sham heslin posner and two other sandy
11:39hook families
11:40filed separate lawsuits accusing jones
11:42of hiding millions of dollars in assets
11:44the plaintiff said the 54 million debt
11:46was dubious since pqpr is a nevada
11:49registered company that is owned by
11:50shell entities owned by jones's kids and
11:53parents
11:54there's substantial evidence of
11:55fraudulent transfers and it's not even
11:57clear that the bankruptcy court would
11:58discharge the statehood judgments anyway
12:00so while jones may delay it's likely to
12:03be a pyrrhic victory and going back to
12:04what jones was admonished for during the
12:06trial jones told the jury that he had
12:08complied with the court's discovery
12:09orders which is absolutely false now
12:12during discovery plaintiffs asked for a
12:13number of different things but they
12:14specifically asked jones to identify the
12:16number of videos he produced about sandy
12:18hook jones and his co-defendants refused
12:20to produce this material which is one of
12:22the reasons for the default judgment and
12:23the plaintiff's lawyers generally had a
12:24pretty easy time showing that alex jones
12:26uh was lying about the stuff that was
12:28actually produced
12:30told the jury that there was 29 minutes
12:32total open videos he played 51 minutes
12:35in a single video so we know that's not
12:37true he has routinely every single day
12:41of this trial broken rules that a
12:43first-year lawyer knows he has routinely
12:47placed inadmissible material in front of
12:48the jury it is from our perspective at
12:50this table that mr renault is actively
12:52trying for a mistrust and the judge told
12:55alex jones's lawyer to stop many
12:57different times i am very upset that you
13:00have tried to
13:01imply to the jury
13:03that we know
13:05how many videos about sandy hook were
13:08released by your clients when we don't
13:11because they refused to respond to
13:14discovery so i do not want you to do
13:16that again and and i don't want you to
13:19argue with me about it that is the rule
13:21of this case
13:23that is the that's it they didn't
13:25respond we don't know
13:27we've had multiple conversations about
13:29how i know you know what the rules are
13:31and you know you know what the rules are
13:34but you've chosen not to follow them on
13:36occasion and despite the judge's very
13:37clear instructions on the number of
13:38videos reynold interrupted the judge to
13:40argue the number of videos
13:43their length
13:45this is evidence that is being induced
13:48but what you said was not
13:50we've shown the jury 29 minutes of clips
13:53where the word sandy hook appears or
13:55anything like that it was
13:56they released in total 29 minutes that
14:00is not true but the judge made it
14:02extraordinarily clear to alex jones uh
14:04what he could and could not do you may
14:06not say to this jury
14:10that you complied with discovery
14:13that is not true
14:15you may not say it again
14:18you may not tell this jury that you are
14:21bankrupt that is also
14:23not true
14:24you're already under oath to tell the
14:26truth
14:28you've already violated that oath twice
14:32today
14:33in just those two examples
14:35it seems
14:38absurd to instruct you again that you
14:41must tell the truth while you testify
14:44yet here i am you must tell the truth
14:47while you testify
14:48this is not your show
14:53you need to slow down
14:56and not take what you see as
14:58opportunities
15:00to
15:02further the message you're wanting to
15:05further
15:06and instead
15:08only answer
15:09the specific and exact question you have
15:12been asked now what makes all of these
15:14exchanges particularly remarkable is
15:17that jones lawyer reynald probably knew
15:20that there was a ticking time pom that
15:22disproved jones's claims about discovery
15:24ticking time bomb was that jones's
15:26lawyer had accidentally sent 300
15:28gigabytes of unredacted information
15:30directly to plaintiff's council and that
15:32included
15:33jones's entire cell phone backup and
15:35sure enough on cross-examination
15:37plaintiff's lawyer bankston reminded
15:39jones that he claimed to have searched
15:41for messages related to sandy hook on
15:43his phone jones said yes that he did the
15:45search but found nothing so you did get
15:47my text messages
15:49and said you did nice trick and that led
15:52to the perry mason moment where bankston
15:54absolutely skewered jones on
15:56cross-examination by pointing out that
15:58these documents did exist in the form of
16:00text messages and emails that mentioned
16:01sandy hook
16:02and the reason that bankston knew that
16:05they existed is because jones's lawyer
16:07accidentally sent him the entire cell
16:08phone i see i told you the truth this is
16:11your perry mason moment uh yeah that's
16:13uh
16:14that's quite the exchange and in fact i
16:16have an entire video covering both this
16:19perry mason moment and the equally
16:22interesting uh hearing that was held the
16:23next day where the defense counsel moved
16:25for mistrial uh and that also did uh did
16:28not go well for alex jones but since
16:30liability was already conceded it didn't
16:32really take the jury very long to award
16:34damages to the plaintiffs the jury found
16:36that alex jones should pay 4.1 million
16:38dollars in compensatory damages for
16:40repeatedly claiming the school shooting
16:42was a hoax
16:43now a court awards compensatory damages
16:45to put the plaintiff in the situation
16:46that they would have been had the harm
16:48not occurred now competitory damages
16:50include both economic and non-economic
16:52damages such as medical bills lost wages
16:54pain and suffering mental impairment and
16:56emotional distress heslin and lewis were
16:58seeking 150 million dollars from jones
17:00but the jury's verdict fell pretty far
17:02short of that mark jones lawyer reynold
17:05asked jurors to award a total of eight
17:07dollars one dollar for each of the eight
17:09harms the defendants inflicted on heslin
17:11and lewis of course he couldn't ask for
17:13nothing because liability was conceded
17:15now the jury's verdict was not unanimous
17:18two of the jurors did not sign the form
17:20in texas a civil jury verdict does not
17:22have to be unanimous but that takes us
17:25to the punitive damages or as texas
17:26calls them exemplary damages now a court
17:29will award exemplary damages in texas to
17:32punish the wrongdoer for their
17:33particularly bad behavior exemplary
17:36damages are also meant to deter people
17:38who might act like the defendant in the
17:40future so in other words texas exemplary
17:42damages are meant to penalize the
17:44defendant for their behavior
17:46and to warn others not to do the same
17:48thing and under
17:49section
17:5041.003 of the texas code of practice and
17:53remedies
17:54exemplary damages are awarded to a
17:56plaintiff if they prove with clear and
17:58convincing evidence that their harm
17:59resulted from fraud malice or gross
18:02negligence but exemplary damages may
18:04only be awarded if the decision is
18:06unanimous this in combination with the
18:08clear and convincing evidence standard
18:10makes it difficult to recover exemplary
18:11damages in personal injury cases in
18:13texas but there's another wrinkle
18:15because in texas there's a statutory cap
18:17on punitive damages in personal injury
18:18cases
18:19an award of exemplary damages may not
18:22exceed an amount
18:23equal to the greater of two times the
18:26economic damages plus an amount equal to
18:28any non-economic damages found by the
18:30jury not to exceed 750 000
18:34or 200 000 and another subsection
18:37prohibits telling the jury about this
18:38particular cap now the reason the juries
18:41are not instructed is that that might
18:43influence their thinking they might
18:45shift punitive damages into the
18:47compensatory damages so it's entirely
18:49possible that the jury can come up with
18:50a much bigger amount than the statute
18:52allows and if a jury returns an award
18:55that is higher than the statutory cap
18:56then the judge just simply reduces the
18:58amount and in closing arguments the
19:00plaintiff's attorney argued that this
19:01was the jury's ability to send a message
19:03to quote stop alex jones stop the
19:05monetization of misinformation of lies
19:07the defense argued that uh jones had
19:10only spent 18 hours and 43 minutes
19:12talking about sandy hook and that they
19:13only made about 14 000 per hour
19:16during the coverage and that should form
19:18the basis of the award and following
19:20closing arguments the jury returned a
19:22verdict of 45 million dollars in
19:24punitive damages but given the statutory
19:26limits that we just talked about it's
19:28likely that the punitive damages award
19:29is likely to get chopped down to well
19:31less than a million dollars but that
19:34raises the question what's next for alex
19:36jones well the answer is more trials on
19:38september 14th the posner and delarosa
19:40plaintiffs will face jones in texas
19:42courtroom
19:44in addition jones may find himself in
19:46deeper trouble with the january 6
19:48committee which wants to see all of the
19:50information that was on his cell phone
19:52which was turned over to the plaintiff's
19:53attorneys
19:55jones took the fifth amendment a hundred
19:56times during his testimony to the
19:58january six committee and in this trial
20:00judge gamble said she would not enter an
20:01order stopping bankston the plaintiff's
20:03attorney from giving the material to the
20:05january 6 committee i mean i don't know
20:07that you get to stop that anyway
20:09additionally jones's lawyers are in hot
20:11water reynold is facing potential
20:12discipline by the connecticut bar on the
20:14same day that the texas jury handed down
20:16the verdict a judge ordered reynald and
20:18jones's lawyer norm pattis to attend a
20:20hearing about whether they should be
20:21referred to disciplinary authorities or
20:23sanctioned by the court directly for
20:25releasing confidential medical records
20:27in violation of state and federal law
20:29and the contra the court's protective
20:31order and although jones told the jury
20:33that any verdict over two million
20:34dollars would sink us after the verdict
20:37jones's lawyer assured reporters that
20:38the verdict meant jones would continue
20:40to be on the air presumably profitably
20:42for the foreseeable future now the other
20:44thing that could be next for alex jones
20:46is a perjury conviction many people have
20:48pointed out that it sure seems like
20:49jones obviously lied on the stand aka
20:52perjury and to find out about the law of
20:54perjury and jones's chances of
20:56conviction you'll have to head over to
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22:14it's free for as long as you are a
22:16curiosity stream member there just isn't
22:18a better deal in streaming where you get
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22:30just legal eagle so sign up now by
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22:36description it's a great way to support
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22:46i'll see you in court

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