Sept. 29 (UPI) — Family members were expected to continue testifying against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Wednesday in the defamation trial where a jury is trying to decide how much he should pay for claiming the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax.
The court on Wednesday morning heard from Alissa Parker, the mother of Emilie, who was killed at Sandy Hook, and William Sherlach, the husband of school psychologist Mary Sherlach, who died after being shot five times in the incident.
Parents of children who died in the mass shooting, like Nicole Hockley, have described how they have been harassed by those who believed Jones on top of grieving. Hockley told the court she was threatened with violence while others questioned that her 6-year-old Dylan never lived or never died.
“These lies have taken away my sense of security, my sense of safety,” said Jillian Soto-Marino, whose sister was a victim in the attack, according to WVIT-TV. “Things that are supposed to be joyful, you don’t know what’s going to happen.”
The civil trial is Jones’ second this year. In August, a Texas jury determined that Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, the parent of Infowars, should pay two parents nearly $50 million to some Sandy Hook victims.
Jones has faced multiple lawsuits after having claimed over the years that the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. was a staged government conspiracy meant to take away guns from Americans.
In the Connecticut case, eight Sandy Hook families are suing Jones. He has already been found liable and the current proceedings were part of the process of determining how much Jones will owe.
