WATERBURY, Conn. — A second trial into InfoWars host Alex Jones and his claims that the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax got underway in Waterbury Tuesday, which included testimony from an FBI swat member who responded to the tragedy nearly 10 years ago.
Jones is accused of claiming that the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, was a hoax and that his claims have led to the victims being harassed and sent death threats.
The plaintiff in this lawsuit includes eight families of Sandy Hook victims and the FBI officer who responded with the SWAT Team to the scene on Dec. 14, 2012.
This trial will determine the state punitive and compensatory damages Jones and Free Speech Systems (InfoWars) could owe in this civil trial. Liability will not be decided in this trial with no reason from the courts specified for the jurors.
The trial got underway without Alex Jones himself. Although, Jones does plan to testify. This trial is expected to last four to five weeks.
Will that benefit the defense? Criminal Defense Attorney Willie Dow remarked, “How can it? This guy by my standards comes across about three steps below a troll. He just does.”
Sandy Hook families walked silently in solidarity into Waterbury Superior Court and let their attorney, Chris Mattei, do the talking in the courtroom.
Opening statements
Opening statements from both sides were made to the six regular and four alternate jurors.
Plaintiff attorney Chris Mattei addressed the jury first, telling them they will represent the community when it comes time for a verdict, and that they will determine the difference between the truth and a "horrible lie."
Mattei showed slides of Jones' website, including his business strategies, website audience analytics data, and some notable articles regarding the Sandy Hook tragedy.
The InfoWars website saw 468 million pageviews between 2011 and November 2012, before the shooting, the plaintiff said.
Jones is the conspiracy theorist and InfoWars host who has already been found liable for damages for claiming Sandy Hook was a hoax and the families were actors.
The plaintiff claimed that Jones made his first false claim just three hours after the tragedy happened for his 11 a.m. show. A video clip was played for the jury, in which Alex said the shooting was a government operation to take guns away from people: "They are coming to get our guns, look out for mass shootings."
More claims were made on Jones's show within the next week, and into the years to come.
One clip, posted just days after the shooting, claimed a Sandy Hook dad asked to "read the card" before speaking at a press conference, which is what Jones used as "proof" that the Sandy Hook parents are actors, the plaintiff said.
“You are going to see, days after the shooting Alex Jones listeners latched onto this. The harassment started. Funerals needed to have security,” said Mattei.
The business strategy for InfoWars involved instilling fear in Alex's audience, leading them to come back to the website and also buy products from his store, the plaintiff said.
One 2014 InfoWars article called "FBI says no one killed at Sandy Hook" helped reign in over $360,000 in just two days, according to data the plaintiff obtained.
And by 2019, The InfoWars franchise was seeing billions of social media and website impressions, according to the plaintiff.
“The reason this matters so much is because this audience meant dollar signs for Alex Jones,” said Mattei.
The plaintiff said the Sandy Hook families did not even know who Jones was, but his audience knew who they were.
Notable attorney Norm Pattis is representing Jones and is fighting for Jones' right to free speech, as well as a minimum amount of damages.
Pattis started addressing the jury by saying that this trial is against free speech and that the jurors are deciding what people can and can't watch.
“They hate him because he says outrageous things. The haters want to silence him.” Pattis said.
Also, the trial is to determine whether the plaintiff is exaggerating how much they would be owed for damages, Pattis said.
While the defense said they understood why Sandy Hook victims were upset about the tragedy, Pattis argued that the Sandy Hook families are "turning grief into political weapons” as they have become "partisans" in their efforts to pass state and federal gun control laws.
"Who could blame them?" Pattis said, implying the huge losses the Sandy Hook families have suffered for nearly a decade.
A sidebar was called to quickly discuss whether Pattis could indeed argue the exaggeration of the plaintiff.
Pattis closed his opening statement with, “Money is their [Sandy Hook parents'] weapon, only the law will…disarm them.”
Witness testimony
Two witnesses testified on the first day: an FBI agent that responded to Sandy Hook and the sister of one of the teachers who was killed in the shooting.
Bill Aldenberg, of Sturbridge, Mass., was the first witness to testify for the plaintiff.
Aldenberg was part of the FBI SWAT Team that responded to the Sandy Hook tragedy. He told the jury that he started his day in Middletown, where he expected to train at the range shared with police.
He was moving items from an old vest to his new vest when he and the team got a call about an "active shooting investigation at a school in Newtown."
The team consisted of nine or so people, including a doctor. They left the range within the first five minutes of getting the call, and a caravan of four or five vehicles drove "fast" to Newtown, according to Aldenberg.
When the FBI team arrived, they met up with Connecticut State Police's SWAT team to clear the school twice.
“It was a uniformed Connecticut trooper being led away by a coworker of someone else and he was in hysterics,” recalled Aldenberg as he broke down in tears.
As he recounted which rooms he and his team went into, Aldenberg got choked up multiple times.
"Were those children real?" Mattei asked Aldenberg.
"Awful, it was awful," Aldenberg said.
In January 2013, Aldenberg started working with the FBI victim services unit for the New Haven area. He helped field complaints of harassment the Sandy Hook families faced, such as death threats and harassment over the phone.
Aldenberg described it as "serious stuff from seriously disturbed people."
He added that the harassment has not stopped, and "it’s gonna continue after today."
When Pattis stood in front of Aldenberg, he asked about the timeline of when Aldenberg learned of Alex Jones and InfoWars contributor Wolfgang Halbig.
Aldenberg said he had found out Jones between 2013 and 2014 during daily conversations with the FBI victims specialist he worked with, as they worked to address the harassment the victims were facing, as well as the harassment that Aldenberg said was targeting him.
Carlee Soto, the sister of Victoria Soto, also testified before the jury Tuesday afternoon.
Vicki Soto was a first-grade teacher at Sandy Hook and was one of the 26 victims of the tragedy.
Carlee talked about the last night she spent at home with Vicki and the trauma she and her family faced the next day.
“There were so many people holding their kids, kids were crying,” she said to the courtroom.
The Sotos went to the firehouse to see if anyone knew where Vicki was, Carlee recounted.
“Everyone was questioning where their loved one was,” Carlee said when asked if anyone was questioning the legitimacy of the shooting.
“Everyone was in tears, everyone knew something serious happened, it was traumatic being in that firehouse,” Carlee said.
Within the first couple of months, she started seeing harassment and claims that the tragedy never happened. Friends would tag her in social posts of people arguing back and forth about the shooting and posts questioning the tragedy.
“Within the first couple of months…pictures of young women crying…from other tragedies, and my picture included, saying 'this is the same crisis actor, how can she be in multiple places at the same time?'” Carlee said.
She “was so confused” as to why people would make this up. “You’re just one person and there are hundreds of people making these pictures.”
She told the plaintiff seeing those posts on social media made her angry and devastated.
She told the defendant that Carlee first heard of Alex Jones and his claims within the first year of Vicki's passing.
The trial has been adjourned for the day.
More court hearings
A Texas jury last month 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 mass shooting. Jones' lawyer has said they plan to appeal that ruling.
Jones now says he believes the shooting was real. At the Texas trial, he testified that he realizes what he said was irresponsible, did hurt people’s feelings and he apologized.
He continues, however, to insist that his comments are protected as free speech. He views the lawsuits as efforts to silence him and put him out of business.
Jones also will face a third trial back in Texas involving the parents of another slain child.
Previously, Jones was found liable for defamation by a Connecticut judge.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Leah Myers is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. She can be reached at lmyers@fox61.com
Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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