Parents of children who died in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting began testimony against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, Associated Press reports. Jones contended that the massacre was a hoax. Families of Sandy Hook victims are suing Jones for defamation. One family said they were put through a “living hell” of death threats, harassment and ongoing trauma because of Jones. Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose son Jesse was killed in the shooting, are suing Jones for $150 million. As Lewis took the stand, she asked Jones, “Do you think I’m an actor?” Earlier that day, Jones called Lewis “slow” on his broadcast program. Lewis said that she and Heslin had been confronted in public several times because of Jones. Heslin said that people had shot at his home and his car. Another family played the jury a threatening voicemail they received. Lewis recounted being afraid for her life and described threatening emails she received that included extensive details about her personal life.
Jones skipped Heslin’s earlier testimony for his broadcast, a move that Heslin described as “cowardly.” Heslin described holding his son after he was shot in the head and the damage that had been done to his body. In 2017, on an Infowars broadcast, Jones said that Heslin did not hold his son’s body. Jones portrayed the lawsuit as an attack on his First Amendment rights. This trial is one of several that Jones will face. During the trial, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble had to scold Jones for his behavior. “Your beliefs do not make something true. You are under oath,” she said.
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