A six-judge multi-jury jury in Connecticut will begin hearing evidence Tuesday on how much Jones should pay the families since he has already been found liable for restitution to them. The trial is expected to last about four weeks. Last month, a Texas jury ordered Jones to pay $49.3 million to the parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, one of 26 students and teachers killed in the 2012 shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Jones’ attorney said an appeal is planned. The Connecticut case has the potential for a bigger award because it involves three lawsuits — which have been merged — filed by 15 plaintiffs, including relatives of nine of the victims and a former FBI agent who responded to the school shooting. Jones, who runs his web show and Infowars brand in Austin, Texas, also faces a third trial for the hoax conspiracy in another pending lawsuit by Sandy Hook parents in Texas. Here’s a look at the upcoming test in Waterbury, Connecticut, about 18 miles (29 kilometers) northeast of Newtown. Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, which has filed for bankruptcy, is also a defendant. WHY ARE SANDY HOOK FAMILIES SUE JONES? The families and former FBI agent William Aldenberg say they have been personally confronted and harassed by Jones’ followers over the hoax plot. They also say they have received death threats and been subjected to abusive comments on social media. Some of the plaintiffs say strangers have videotaped them and their surviving children. And some families have moved out of Newtown to avoid threats and harassment. “I can’t even describe the last nine and a half years, the living hell that I and others have had to endure because of the recklessness and negligence of Alex Jones,” Neal Heslin, Jesse Lewis’ father, testified during the Texas trial . . The Connecticut lawsuit alleges defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violations of the state’s Unfair Trade Practices Act. The families claim that when Jones spoke about Sandy Hook, it boosted his audience and made more money selling supplements, clothing and other items. The families have not sought any specific amount of compensation, some of which may be limited by state law. However, there are no damages limits under the Unfair Trade Practices Act. Throughout the Connecticut and Texas cases, Jones and his attorneys repeatedly failed to turn over the records as required to the families’ attorneys. In response, the judges imposed one of the harshest penalties in the civil legal world—finding Jones liable for default damages without trial. WHAT IS ALEX JONES SAYING? In a reversal of what he said on his show for years after the shooting, Jones now says he believes the massacre was real. However, he continues to say that his comments that the shooting was a hoax put on by crisis agents to encourage gun control efforts were protected by free speech rights. During a deposition in the case in April, a defiant Jones insisted he was not responsible for the suffering Sandy Hook parents say they suffered because of his words. He also said the judges’ default judgments against him – finding him liable without a trial – were unfair and claimed they were part of a conspiracy to put him out of business and silence him. “If questioning public events and free speech is banned because it might hurt someone’s feelings, we’re not in America anymore,” he said in the deposition. “They can change the channel. They can come out and say I’m wrong. They have freedom of speech.” At the Texas trial, however, Jones testified that he now realizes what he said was irresponsible, hurt people’s feelings, and apologized. WHAT IS EXPECTED AT COURT? Judge Barbara Bellis, who found Jones liable for damages, will oversee the trial. She is the same judge who oversaw the Sandy Hook families’ lawsuit against gun manufacturer Remington, which made the Bushmaster rifle used in the school shooting. In February, Remington agreed to settle the lawsuit for $73 million. The trial is expected to be similar to the one in Texas, with victims’ relatives testifying about the pain and anguish the farcical plot has caused them and medical professionals answering questions about the relatives’ mental health and diagnoses. Jones will also testify, his attorney, Norman Pattis, said. “He’s looking forward to putting this ordeal behind him. it has been a long and costly distraction,” Pattis wrote in an email to The Associated Press. The jury is also expected to be presented with details of Jones’ finances. Jones testified at the Texas trial that any award above $2 million would “sink us” and urged viewers of his web show to buy his merchandise to help him stay on the air and fight the lawsuits. But one economist testified that Jones and his company were worth as much as $270 million. Jones is facing another lawsuit in Texas over allegations he hid millions of dollars in assets after families of Sandy Hook victims began taking him to court.
