“The court finds with clear and convincing evidence that defendant Alex Jones, intentionally and in bad faith, unjustifiably violated a number of clear court orders requiring him to testify on March 23 and 24,” Belis said.
Until he sits down to deposit, Belize ordered, Jones will have to pay fines that start at $ 25,000 a day on April 1 and increase by $ 25,000 every business day.
“It’s clear … that the plaintiffs here simply want and are entitled to Mr Jones’s testimony and that Mr Jones has continued to try to deliberately ignore the court orders and attempts to manipulate the judicial process,” Bellis said Wednesday. . . “Although the payment of fees and court costs will reimburse the plaintiffs for the costs incurred in securing Mr Jones’s deposit, it is not a substitute for his deposit.”
Belis had ordered Jones to testify in the case for two days last week, but Jones did not appear. Last Thursday, Jones’s lawyer, Kevin Smith, told CNN that Jones was “following his doctor’s advice” not to leave home and avoid stressful activities. Bellis had previously denied Jones’s earlier request to delay his testimony due to an unknown medical condition, saying “the medical issues, although potentially serious, are not currently serious enough to either require his treatment or persuade him to stop. to participate in its broadcasts. “
At a time when Jones’s lawyers were arguing during a hearing last week that their client was not well enough to sit down for a deposition and that he was under doctor’s orders not to leave his home, he was hosting a live broadcast. on the Infowars website in a studio away from home, his lawyers confirmed in a court statement.
During Wednesday’s controversy over what sanctions, if any, should be imposed on Jones, another of his lawyers, Cameron Atkinson, said Jones had already sat on multiple counts in other Sandy Hook cases. Jones “never sought to delay indefinite deposition.” Atkinson opposed the arrest warrant for Jones, saying it would worsen his health problems, Mr. Jones’ involvement. ”
Christopher Matthews, a lawyer representing the Sandy Hook family, argued during the hearing that Jones should be jailed until released to prove that sanctions for non-compliance with court orders were “not worth it”.
“It seems to us that Mr Jones has made a deliberate decision that he would rather be despised by the court than exposed to testimony,” Matei said.
Mattei declined to comment further on Bellis’s decision. Although he did not order his arrest, Bellis said plaintiffs could pursue an arrest warrant for Jones in Texas courts.
Sandy Hook’s family lawyers were preparing to fire Jones as part of a lawsuit originally filed in 2018, after repeatedly describing the 2015 Sandy Hook shooting that killed 20 children and six adults, a joke made by actors. Jones has since admitted in another statement that the shooting was real.
Belis said the contempt “will be eliminated” if and when Jones completes two full days of filing with Connecticut attorneys by April 15, and that he may also seek compensation for the fines he faces.
Atkinson asked the law firm to adjust its Covid-19 protocols for Jones, which he said included the use of a mask, “something Jones is unwilling to do.”
