Scarlett Lewis’s 6-year-old son Jesse was one of 20 children killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting. Over the years, she and her husband have faced harassment from people believing her child’s death was staged — but on Tuesday, she had a chance to confront the man who came out on top. Is propagating such lies.
Lewis took the stand of witness in a defamation trial against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his media company, for his repeated claims that the Sandy Hook massacre was “staged”. Lewis and her husband, Neil Heslin, are seeking at least $150 million in damages, and have outlined how they were harassed, threatened and even shot at their home by people. , which believed Jones’ lies about the mass shooting.
Standing beside the witness and looking Jones straight in the eye, Lewis said, “I wanted to tell you with my face. … I am a mother, first and foremost, and I know you are a father.” .and my son existed.”
Lewis accused him of repeatedly implying on his show Infowars that he and other victims and their families are actors.
On the day of shooting, Jones published an episode of InfoWars in which he says, “Don’t think it can’t be staged.” He repeatedly suggested that mass shootings could have taken place “Staging event.”
Politics also tracked many examples From Jones’ comments. On an Infowars show from January 13, 2015, Jones told a caller that “Sandy Hook is a synthetic completely fake with the actors, in my view, manufactured.”
“I knew they had actors in there, but I thought they killed some real kids. And it shows how courageous they are, they clearly used actors,” he said.
In another episode published on 28 December 2014, Jones stated that the shooting was a “huge hoax” and falsely claimed That “the whole thing was fake.”
“You’re still on your show today, it just means I’m an actress, that I’m in a deep state. You have this week. And I don’t understand,” Lewis told Jones on Tuesday. “Truth – Truth is very important to our world. Truth is what we base our reality on and we have to agree on that in order to have a civil society. Sandy Hook is a hard truth.”
She continued to pressurize him over his false claims about the reality of the shooting, at one point directly asking him if she thought he was an actor.
“No, I don’t think you’re an actor,” Jones replied.
“Jesse was real. I’m a real mom,” she said. “… I know you know this, and that’s the problem.”
Jones shook his head as he addressed her, to which he replied, “I know you believe in me and yet you’re going to leave this courthouse and you’re going to do it again on your show.” going to say.”
Before the hearing on Tuesday, Jones aired on her show that Lewis’s husband, Neil Heslin, is “slow” and is being molested. Last week, an article posted on the Infowars website detailed Jones’ statement to the press after a hearing in which he said the judges of the case were only doing it “for political reasons.” He also said that the case is “one of the biggest show trials ever” and a “murder of your rights to due process”.
heslin, joe also testified On Tuesday, said Jones made his life a “living hell” filled with abuse and trauma from his followers. He and Lewis describe people receiving shootings, harassment and even threatening emails at their home and car.
“I can’t even describe the last nine-and-a-half years, the living hell that I and others have suffered because of Alex Jones’ carelessness and recklessness,” Heslin said.
“It’s fear for your life,” Lewis said. “You didn’t know what they were going to do.”
Jones is facing multiple lawsuits from the Sandy Hook families, who allege that his claims led to years of abuse. He has already been found liable for defamation by courts in Texas and Connecticut for how he portrayed the mass shooting as a hoax.
