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Jury selection begins for Alex Jones defamation trial
The conspiracy theorist and Infowars host was ruled liable for defamation for the comments he made after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.
AUSTIN, Texas - Jury selection for Alex Jones' defamation trial began Monday, with lawyers given the task of weeding out several dozen people in a pool of more than 100.
"Anyone here have any strong belief, strong thought, strong reaction about being involved with a case is so public?" said Wesley Ball, attorney for Sandy Hook families, during questioning
The conspiracy theorist and Infowars host was ruled liable for defamation after claiming the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax. Now the chosen jury will have to determine how much money two of the families get paid.
Monday, attorneys for the families asked a series of questions to potential jurors, in an effort to ensure the trial is fair.
"Do you bring into this courtroom an already pre-conceived bias against or for a particular party?" said Ball during selection.
Some potential jurors expressed a strong belief in freedom of speech, but the majority believed it should not be without any consequences if that speech does harm.
"There are some people who look at it and go, the First Amendment allows me to say whatever I want to say and if it hurts people then that is the product of us living in a free society. Others might look at it and say they love freedom of speech and the First Amendment however it doesn’t give you the right to say what you want. Who is in the first category?" said Ball as he waited for potential jurors to raise hands.
Some might have a hard time putting a dollar amount on defamation.
"For me, it comes down to, where do you get that number to begin with?" said one person.
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Attorneys for Alex Jones attend pretrial hearing
Jones' attorneys, as well as the attorneys for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting, attending a pretrial hearing to iron out logistics ahead of Jones' defamation trial.
At the pre-trial hearing on July 16, one of the attorneys for the families said the damage Jones caused is devastating. The also said money can't fix everything, but believe it will bring some relief for the families.
"One of the big things that he said was that Neal Heslin, a parent who went on national television to beg Mr. Jones to stop calling Sandy Hook fake, Mr. Jones turned around on his show and said Neal was lying about holding his dead son," said Mark Bankston, attorney for the Sandy Hook families.
This is only the beginning. There are more families that are suing Jones for defamation.
The trial for two families including Heslin’s, is set to begin July 26.