Alex Jones unleashes rant as Sandy Hook lawyer points out victims’ families in court
Alex Jones’ second defamation trial over his “hoax” lies about the Sandy Hook massacre has entered its third week in Connecticut court.
Testimony resumed Tuesday morning after a tense conclusion last week, which saw the Infowars host delay his return to the witness box following a rant at reporters outside the courthouse.
His own defence attorneys waived their right to cross-examine him on Friday, and he is now expected to resume testimony as a witness for his defence next week after the judge decided against punishing him for urging jurors to do their own research.
Testifying on Thursday, Jones shouted that he was “done apologising” for his egregious claims about the shooting under questioning from the plaintiffs’ lawyer while families of victims broke down in tears in the courtroom.
The first witness on Tuesday was Ian Hockley, whose six-year-old son Dylan was killed in the shooting. He told the court of harassment and threats he received as a result of hoax claims broadcast on Infowars.
Alex Jones promoting new book as trial continues
While his attorney fights for him in court, Alex Jones appears to be spending a good deal of his time promoting his new book The Great Reset.
On Tuesday morning, Infowars published an article praising Washington Post literary critic Ron Charles for his review of the book, which noted that may have been purposely barred from the New York Times bestseller list. The Times denied that assertion.
In a special broadcast over the weekend, Jones reportedly said that he would not attend the trial this week because he fears Russia is on the brink of launching World War Three and he doesn’t want to be in Connecticut when it happens.
New witness: Mother Nicole Hockley
Nicole Hockley, the mother of Sandy Hook victim Dylan and wife of previous witness Ian Hockley, is now on the witness stand.
She spoke at length about how she fell in love with Ian and became eager to have children before welcoming son Jake. Eighteen months later, Dylan was born six weeks ahead of his due date. Ms Hockley fondly recalled the day she was finally allowed to bring him home from the hospital.
Like her husband, Ms Hockley said she struggled with Dylan’s autism diagnosis at age three. But she said he remained a happy and healthy child, as the court was shown a new photo of the family.
Nicole and Ian Hockley are seen with their son Dylan in a photo shown at Alex Jones’ Sandy Hook defamation trial
(Waterbury court)
The court is now on a lunch break.
New witness: Infowars employee Nico Acosta
Now on the stand is Nico Acosta, a former Infowars employee whose testimony will seek to show jurors how directly involved Jones was in booking guests on the show - despite his repeated claims to the contrary.
Mr Acosta testified that notorious Sandy Hook denier Wolfgang Halbig was the most frequent guest to talk about the shooting on Infowars.
He said he was the one who booked Mr Halbig as a guest at the instruction of Jones, noting that Mr Halbig would not have been brought on without Jones’ approval.
Asked if Jones was “enthused, excited and eager” to have Mr Halbig on the show, Mr Acosta said: “Correct.”
He testified that he personally would not have trusted Mr Halbig on a guest if he had his own show.
Mr Acosta also said that Jones was responsible for headlining each segment uploaded to YouTube, including a clip titled: “FBI Says Nobody Killed at Sandy Hook Massacre.”
He concluded by saying that he left Infowars in 2018 because he “couldn’t handle the job anymore”.
“I reached a saturation point with the toxicity,” he said.
Mr Acosta’s testimony featured audio only, with a screengrab of his deposition shown in the court.
Father faces brief cross-examination
On cross-examination, Jones’ attorney Norm Pattis questioned how much money Mr Hockley earns for running the family’s foundation Dylan’s Wings of Change.
Mr Hockley replied that he makes just $36,000 per year, after explaining that he was fired from his previous job at IBM because he requested an additional year off to run the foundation.
The father also explained that he first became aware of Jones following his attack on fellow parent Lenny Pozner, who led efforts to stop those spreading conspiracy theorists around the shooting.
Mr Hockley’s testimony has now concluded and the plaintiffs are asking to play recorded testimony from Infowars employee Nico Acosta.
Father tells of trolls calling victim parents liars
After the break, Mr Hockley began describing how he and other parents were accused of faking their sadness over the deaths of their children in the wake of Infowars hoax claims.
In one post, an internet troll shared a photo of Mr Hockley and his wife smiling with their surviving son after the shooting. The caption reads: “Just look at his dimples...never cried once, just proving further Sandyhook is a Hoax.”
The court was also shown a photo of a card that was placed on the windshield of Mr Hockley’s car accusing parents of being in on the hoax.
The father said such harassment forced him to be “on guard” at all times in public.
A video was then played in court in which Jones talked about “photos of kids still alive” on his Infowars show, telling viewers: “They think we’re so dumb, it’s hidden in plain sight.”
The plaintiffs’ side concluded its questioning of Mr Hockley by pulling up a picture of him with his son.
Video shows Infowars contributor ranting about Sandy Hook 'hoax’
With Mr Hockley still on the stand, the jury was shown an Infowars broadcast in which contributor Wolfgang Halbig claimed Sandy Hook Elementary School was a “toxic waste dump” turned into a school for the sole purpose of staging a mass shooting.
Mr Hockley told how he and other families were shaken by baseless conspiracies like the ones presented by Mr Halbig.
He said attacks on his family and others ramped up as he promoted Dylan’s Wings of Change, a foundation he created in his son’s honour.
“Pictures from the memorial were sent to me again, ‘Hey it’s party boy Hockley, the fake parent of Sandy hook, great photoshop dude,’” he said.
Morning recess was called as Jones’ attorney Norm Pattis said he was given no nice of the exhibit containing the “party boy” comment.
Court shown photo of six-year-old victim Dylan
During Mr Hockley’s testimony, the plaintiffs’ team pulled up a family photo as the father recounted the last time he saw six-year-old Dylan.
He said he looked into the boy’s bedroom as he slept the night before the shooting, not wanting to wake him after returning home from work late.
The next morning, Mr Hockley said he had to leave for work early, without saying goodbye to Dylan or his brother.
Hours later he received an email about Sandy Hook Elementary School being placed on lockdown - a term he didn’t immediately recognise because he is British.
At 3pm that day, he learned that his son had been killed.
Dylan’s body was cremated, and his funeral featured his favourite song - “Hallelujah” from the Shrek soundtrack.
“It’s just completely wrong and topsy turvy, the wrong way round, to bury your own child with so few years,” Mr Hockley told the court.
New witness: Father Ian Hockley
The first plaintiffs’ witness called on Tuesday was Ian Hockley, whose son Dylan died in his teacher’s arms during the Sandy Hook massacre.
Mr Hockley explained how Dylan was diagnosed with autism at age three after showing signs of slow development, including with speaking and walking.
He says the diagnosis was difficult to come to terms with, telling the court: “I guess you have all your hopes and dreams and thoughts of who your child might be.”
Jones will not testify this week
Before testimony kicked off, Alex Jones’ attorney Norm Pattis announced that he will not be taking the stand this week.
It was initially speculated that he would return to testify as a defence witness as early as tomorrow, after last week’s theatrics saw his lawyers waive their right to cross-examine him on the stand as a plaintiff’s witness following his outburst in court.
Mr Pattis said his client will instead testify next week, possibly on Wednesday (5 October).
Alex Jones is ‘biggest bully I’ve ever faced’ says mother of Sandy Hook victim
The mother of one of the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre has described Alex Jones as the “biggest bully I’ve ever faced”.
Scarlett Lewis, whose six-year-old son Jesse Lewis was murdered in the 2012 massacre, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that testifying at the far-right conspiracy theorist’s first defamation trial was the “hardest thing” she has done since losing her child – but that she had to stand up to try to stop him from bullying others.
Last month, Scarlett Lewis confronted the far-right extremist with the damage he had caused by spreading his lies that the Sandy Hook massacre was a ‘hoax’