WATERBURY, Conn. — The Judge said Alex Jones has elected not to testify as the defamation trial into his Sandy Hook lies continued in Waterbury, Connecticut on Wednesday. His attorney, Norm Pattis, said he went back to Texas and will not be in the courtroom Wednesday.
The judge said Wednesday will be the final day of testimony. the lawyers will present closing arguments and the jury will begin deliberations on Thursday.
The families lawyers showed their remaining evidence, some emails and revenue samples from 2014.
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The families lawyers also showed the jury previous depositions of Alex Jones. In one deposition, he says he flew on a private plane. They are trying to paint a picture to the jury that Jones is concerned about his safety because of what he has said on his Infowars show.
The families attorneys played video clips of Jones, clips of him talking about his trial that are now being used against him as evidence. Another video taken from his testimony was aired on his website as an advertisement for his show and cryptocurrency.
The jury was dismissed around 11 a.m. after all the plaintiff's evidence was presented and after the defense showed no evidence and rested their case.
The counsel continued more discussions in the courtroom.
Defense Attorney Norm Pattis presented motions to dismiss some parts of the plaintiff’s case, including a claim that Infowars selling products contributed to physical damage to Sandy Hook victims’ families. The Judge denied those motions.
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Tuesday brought more emotional testimony from victims' families.
This may be the last week of evidence before the jury must decide how much Jones will pay several of the victims' families in damages.
Francine Wheeler was on the stand to talk about her son Benjamin, who was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting nearly 10 years ago. Her husband, David Wheeler, testified earlier in the case.
As Wheeler got more involved in Ben’s Lighthouse a few years after the shooting, she started searching what people were saying and she found theories that accused her of being a crisis actor.
When the Sandy Hook choir performed at the Super Bowl following the massacre, a picture was mislabeled as proof Ben was still alive.
With the help of a friend, she got her name cleared from Google and had it connected to the Ben’s Lighthouse website. However, within weeks, the theories came back up.
“They took my identity," Wheeler added. "And then they took my husband’s identity, they took my surviving child’s identity who was hiding in the gym.”
Jackie and Mark Barden also took the stand. The couple, who testified separately, had three kids who went to school in the Sandy Hook section of Newtown; Daniel was the youngest, his older brother, James, and older sister, Natalie. Daniel was a student at Sandy Hook Elementary and was killed in the shooting.
Mark Barden had a website for his music career but was forced to take it down after being bombarded with threats.
Eventually, they got letters. Jackie said one person wrote they peed on Daniel’s grave and someone else wrote they were going to dig up Daniel’s grave because they didn’t believe he was in there.
Jackie said her children, Natalie and James, now adults, are still affected by the loss of their younger brother and the hate that stemmed from the lies that spread.
Court was disrupted after a fire alarm was pulled in the parking garage.
Jones, joined by spokesperson Robert Barnes, spoke to the media and took questions Tuesday in front of Waterbury Superior Court, continuing to call the court case a “show trial.”
Jones called going on the stand "a trap" and "a spider web" and said he was not sure if he would take the stand Wednesday or at all this week. If he does, he will consider pleading the Fifth Amendment, as he is at risk of being held in contempt and he said he was told the judge would send him to jail if he “told the truth.”
FOX61's Lindsey Kane asked Jones if he saw any of the testimony from last week.
“It wasn’t testimony. It was a memorial service where they talk about their life, their children and all the other kids who got killed, and then they talk about me,” Jones said.
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Jones was already found liable for calling the Sandy Hook shooting on Dec. 14, 2012, a hoax on his InfoWars show.
A separate defamation trial over the summer ordered Jones to pay nearly $50 million to the Lewis family, who lost their son Jesse in the shooting.
In this Connecticut case, the families of eight victims and an FBI agent that responded to the shooting filed for damages against Jones, saying his claims saying Sandy Hook was stage had turned them into targets.
Pattis argues that any damages should be limited and accuses the victims' relatives of exaggerating the harm the lies caused them.
A third similar suit, out of Texas, is awaiting trial.
The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting took away the lives of 20 students and six educators.
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