Overview

2022 Alex Jones Defamation Trial is the courtroom trial of conspiracy theorist and internet personality Alex Jones vs. the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims. After being delayed from April to July 2022, the trial was set to take place in Austin, Texas to determine how much money Jones should give the families of Sandy Hook victims as repayment for his insistence that the event was a false flag hoax.

Background

After the conclusion of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in late 2012, Infowars podcast host Alex Jones claimed the event was a hoax, with varying degrees of conspiracy added to his reasoning. This resulted in two families suing him for damages, claiming that fans of the host voraciously attacked the families who were believed to be in on the alleged false flag conspiracy. As reported by Today^[1] on October 2nd, 2021, Jones lost the initial lawsuit, with the court finding that he failed to provide adequate evidence that Sandy Hook was staged (shown below).

The result of the trial showing that Jones is liable for the damage caused to the two families of Sandy Hook victims meant that a later trial, with a jury, would be required to ascertain how much monetary damages should be paid out to the family. The impact of the trial is potentially bigger than just itself, as Jones is still awaiting the payout amounts in two other defamation trials that were concluded in other states, as noted by the local news YouTube channel WFAA^[2] on July 25th, 2022 (shown below).

Developments

The trial began in Texas on July 25th, 2022, with several reported issues for Jones and his defense team. For example, Free Speech LLC, the parent company for Infowars, declared bankruptcy on July 29th, before Jones appeared, reportedly as a way to mitigate the damages Jones will be forced to pay as a result of the trial, according to Reuters.^[4] On August 2nd, Jones then testified that he had complied with court orders in defamation suits and was bankrupt. The following day, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble admonished him for lying under oath with regards to this claim, as he had failed to comply with court orders and he was not technically bankrupt.

In court on August 3rd, 2022, Jones then admitted that the Sandy Hook shooting was "100 percent real" and agreed with his own attorney that it was "irresponsible" to broadcast to his audience that the shooting never happened.^[3]

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones admitted that the Sandy Hook shooting was '100% real' -- and then appeared to play the victim because of the media's coverage of his defamation trial pic.twitter.com/p9YMHcGq0Z

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) August 3, 2022

Alex Jones's Lawyer Text Message Gaffe

On August 3rd, 2022, the lawyer for the Sandy Hook parents, Mark Bankston, alleged that Jones's legal team had accidentally sent them the contents of Jones's phone records.^[5] Bankston said this information proved to him that Jones had lied when he stated he didn't have text messages about Sandy Hook. In a viral moment widely shared and discussed online, Bankston asked Jones, "Do you know what perjury is?"

“Do you know what perjury is?” pic.twitter.com/awbBpVf4Tl

— Acyn (@Acyn) August 3, 2022

Jones's lawyers then moved for a mistrial after it was revealed that Bankston had received the contents of Jones's phone, which the judge denied, purportedly saying Jones had asked for a mistrial "like 17 times already"^[6] (shown below).

The gaffe led to much mockery and jokes on social media. For example, on August 3rd, Twitter user @johnvvariety^[7] joked about a moment from the clip in which the cameras focused on Jones's lawyer looking pensive as Bankston revealed the alleged mistake, gaining over 2,300 retweets and 45,000 likes in one day (shown below, left). That same day, Twitter user @Travon^[8] compared Jones's lawyers to Barry Zuckerkorn, the comically inept lawyer played by Henry Winkler in Arrested Development, gaining 45 retweets and 580 likes in a similar timeframe (shown below, right).

Connecticut Trial Verdict

On October 12th, 2022, Jones was ordered to pay each of the fifteen plaintiffs in the Connecticut portion of his defamation trial sums between $28.8 million and $120 million, with the total sum reaching $965 million. Added to the $45.2 million he was ordered to pay in an earlier Austin trial, Jones now owes over $1 billion in damages. A third trial in Austin is scheduled for later in 2022.

Sale of Infowars To The Onion

On November 14th, 2024, satire website The Onion announced it had purchased Infowars at auction after Alex Jones declared bankruptcy as a result of the settlement. The Onion plans to reimagine Infowars as a site parodying conspiracy theorists and grifters.

Related Memes

Alex Jones Turning Around In Court

Alex Jones Turning Around In Court refers to an image macro and screencap of Jones turning around to look at the doors in the courtroom. After being posted on Twitter, meme creators imagined who Jones was looking at in the doorway or used him as a reaction image with an accompanying caption.

Search Interest

External References