Hear Parents of Sandy Hook Victims Confront Alex Jones 2:58
New York (CNN Business) --
The dishonesty of right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was exposed in a Texas court Wednesday during the cross-examination of the Infowars founder, when an attorney for a Sandy Hook parenting couple verified your answers in real time.
The jury in the case will determine how much Jones will have to pay the parents, Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, who won a contempt judgment against him earlier this year.
An attorney representing Heslin and Lewis has asked the jury to award $150 million in damages.
OPINION |
The most alarming in the history of Alex Jones
Jones, who was the only defense witness during the trial, did not fare well on Wednesday when questioned by Mark Bankston, the plaintiffs' attorney.
In a notable moment, Bankston revealed to Jones and the court that he had recently acquired evidence showing that Jones had lied when he claimed during the discovery process that he had never texted about the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting.
Bankston said Jones's attorney, in an apparent oversight, had sent him two years of cellphone records that included every text message Jones had ever sent.
The records, Bankston said, showed that Jones had, in fact, sent text messages about the Sandy Hook shooting.
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"That's why I know he lied to me when he said he didn't have any text messages about Sandy Hook," Bankston said.
Bankston showed Jones a text message exchange he had about Sandy Hook.
But Jones testified that
he had "never seen those text messages."
When reminded that Jones had testified under oath that he had searched his phone during the discovery phase of the trial and was unable to locate messages about Sandy Hook, Jones insisted he "didn't lie."
Jones unsubstantiatedly claimed after the Sandy Hook shooting that killed 26 people that the incident was staged.
Jones has since acknowledged that the shooting occurred, after facing lawsuits.
Infowars' Alex Jones Liable for Damages for His False Claims About Sandy Hook Shooting, Judge Rules
Jones said in a 2019 affidavit that a "form of psychosis" made him believe at the time that it was staged.
And in court Wednesday, Jones said he does believe the Sandy Hook shooting happened, saying it was "100% real."
In another notable moment during Wednesday's questioning, Jones was asked if she had linked Maya Guerra Gamble, the judge overseeing the trial, to pedophilia and human trafficking.
When Jones denied doing so, Bankston played an Infowars video for the court in which he did just that.
In the video, Jones attacked Gamble's previous work for Child Protective Services stating that the agency had been "exposed" for "working for pedophiles".
Gamble, whose office did not respond to an earlier request for comment about Infowars attacking her in those terms, laughed when she saw a screenshot of the video in court Wednesday.
"The person on the left in this image is our judge, correct?"
Bankston asked Jones.
Jones answered yes.
The plaintiffs' attorneys said Tuesday that they intend to seek sanctions against Jones for being dishonest on the witness stand.
And Gamble also reprimanded Jones Tuesday for violating his oath to tell the truth twice.
"You are already under oath to tell the truth," Gamble said Tuesday.
"You have already violated that oath twice today, just in those two instances. It seems absurd to instruct you again that you must tell the truth while testifying. Yet here I am again."
"This is not your show," Gamble added Wednesday.
Schools, scene of gun violence in the United States: these have been the worst shootings, from Columbine and Sandy Hook to Uvalde
After Jones finished testifying on Wednesday, the defense finished presenting the case and began closing arguments.
The jury could decide how much to award the Sandy Hook parents in damages as early as this week.
The current trial is the first of three that will determine how much Jones will have to pay the multiple Sandy Hook families who sued him and won default judgments.
Alex Jones Sandy Hook Massacre