An Alex Jones trial is guaranteed to be a circus — for reference’s sake, he previously claimed during his custody trial that he couldn’t remember basic facts about his children because of a big bowl of chili — but his latest spin at the wheels of justice (during the conclusion of his defamation trial saga) was really something. The aftermath could work some unintended results because Fox News host Tucker Carlson is reportedly “sh*tting” about his texts popping up in the gaggle that the Jan 6. committee is currently sifting through. And Jones himself is beside himself over his “damn lawyers” just handing that incriminating mess to the other side.
Granted, the potential future repercussions might be the only thing that comes of this trial, really. Jones is on the hook for $4.1 million in compensatory damages, but his punitive damages (of $45.2 million) got sliced to about 1/10 due to a Texas statute. In short, he’s selling enough snake oil that he’ll be just fine, but according to a juror on this defamation trial, listening to harrowing testimony (about Sandy Hook children and their parents) was excruciating. And the actual jury room experience was full of the arguments and tension that sound about right. One juror spoke up (while choosing to remain anonymous, only known as “Sharon,” for obvious reasons) to describe how this jury duty experience was more stressful than most, via Reuters:
The deliberation room in the Depression-era Austin courthouse was a tight fit, and some jurors had to sit in chairs along the wall, Sharon said. Over Domino’s pizza, the panel wrestled for nearly seven hours with the question of how much in punitive damages to award the parents, Sharon said, though she was too nervous to eat.
Sharon also explained how she knew that this was going to be a long deliberation upon hearing that the punitive damages must be unanimous, and in the end, she reveals that no one was pleased with how things turned out. What’s more, Sharon admitted that some of the Infowars clips were presented as entertaining, until she realized that “lizard people” rants gave way to devastating conspiracy theories, in which Jones turned his audience against Sandy Hook parents as though they were the real villains. That’s enough to make any pizza (regardless of brand name) taste like cardboard.
(Via Reuters)