Alex Jones’ defamation trial continues to veer wildly off the rails.
Yesterday a doozy dropped when the legal team representing the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre revealed that Jones’ own lawyers accidentally sent them a digital copy of the Infowars host’s cellphone. That stunning display of legal incompetence meant that Jones was forced to come clean on his communications relating to the school shooting and on how his business profited from his claims that the tragedy was simply a hoax. At one point during the trial, Mark Bankston — the attorney for the Sandy Hook parents — asked a sputtering, red-faced Jones if he knew what the word “perjury” meant. Jones tried to play off the error by suggesting his team intended to send those two years’ worth of texts and emails that directly contradicted his testimony to their opposition but today, in another bizarre turn of events, the right-wing conspiracy theorist is now demanding a mistrial over the mistake.
According to reporting from Vice, Jones’ attorney, Federico Reynal filed an emergency motion this morning, pleading with Judge Maya Guerra Gamble to order Bankston to destroy the evidence he sent before it can be used against Jones in other legal proceedings. (This is his first of many defamation cases being launched by Sandy Hook survivors.)
“I hate to be put into this position by the conduct of plaintiff’s counsel, but it appears they want to have a mistrial,” Reynal told the judge.
Reynal tried to argue that, though he did send a link to access the data, he followed that up with another email saying “please disregard.” Bankston clapped back, saying Reynal’s “please disregard” note was “legally meaningless,” and reminding the attorney that he was given 10 days to cite which information was privileged before Bankston brought it to trial.
Reynal says this is grounds for a mistrial and requests one, again. Bankston responds that he notified Reynal right away, cited a specific rule that Reynal is now citing “so I know he knows how to read it.”
— Anna Merlan (@annamerlan) August 4, 2022
In his email Reynal apparently wrote “please disregard” according to Bankston, “which creates no legal duty on me whatsoever”
— Anna Merlan (@annamerlan) August 4, 2022
Bankston is saying by Reynal’s own description of events he made a willful failure of discovery and didn’t turn stuff over until after the case went to trial
— Anna Merlan (@annamerlan) August 4, 2022
Now the judge has already denied Reynal’s request since all of the information in question was supposed to have been turned over in the discovery phase a year prior to the trial but things have taken an even more grim turn for Jones because of this fiasco. The Jan. 6th committee, which has already deposed the Infowars host once over his involvement in the insurrection, is now requesting the data sent to Bankston be turned over for their investigation. Apparently, there might be some incriminating texts between Jones and Roger Stone that the committee could use in their case against Donald Trump.
Bankston just referred to Jones’ “intimate messages to Roger Stone,” which first, ew, and secondly, I think I hear the January 6 committee having a party from here
— Anna Merlan (@annamerlan) August 4, 2022
Bankston says he has requests from “various law enforcement agencies” to provide Alex Jones’ phone data and he intends to do it immediately.
— Anna Merlan (@annamerlan) August 4, 2022
Gamble isn’t even sure Bankston CAN say no to the committee, she says, with a sort of rueful chuckle.
— Anna Merlan (@annamerlan) August 4, 2022
Jones wasn’t present in court today so if you’re wondering how he’s handling this whole mess, we suggest turning on Infowars.
(Via Vice)