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Mark Bankston, lawyer for Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, asks Alex Jones questions about his emails and text messages during trial at the Travis County Courthouse, Wednesday Aug. 3, 2022, in Austin, Texas. (Briana Sanchez/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
Briana Sanchez/Associated Press
AUSTIN, TEXAS — The attorney for a Sandy Hook family says the US House Jan. 6 committee has requested a copy of Alex Jones’ cellphone records that the Infowars owner’s lawyer mistakenly gave to the attorney.
Attorney Mark Bankston told a Texas judge during a hearing on Thursday morning that the records include “intimate messages with Roger Stone,” an ally of former President Donald Trump who was subpoenaed by the House committee alongside Jones last year.
The judge, meanwhile, refused to call for a mistrial in the Sandy Hook defamation awards trial after Jones’ attorney filed a protective order Thursday morning seeking to bar the parents that his client defamed from using the emails and text messages.
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Sandy Hook families v. Alex Jones
Attorney Andino Reynal, representing Jones, called for a mistrial while seeking the order, after it was revealed during Wednesday’s testimony that he had inadvertently sent attorneys for Sandy Hook parents Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin volumes of information including texts and emails from his client to others , including Donald Trump ally Roger Stone.
Reynal contended that he had asked Bankston, representing Lewis and Heslin, to disregard the link to the information. Bankston said he didn’t have to since Reynal never formally requested that privileged or confidential information be removed.
The texts and emails showed Jones had been communicating with others about Sandy Hook in recent years, Bankston said. Jones had said on the stand this week that he searched his phone for him and did not have any communications on Sandy Hook.
The hearing was held as the jury is deliberating how much in compensation Heslin and Lewis should receive for being defamed by Jones who repeatedly called the death of their son a “hoax” committed by “crisis actors.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Staff writers Jordan Nathaniel Fenster and John Moritz contributed to this story.