https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qjkby3/as-damages-trial-begins-alex-jones-lawyers-fight-for-his-financial-life

Before he stepped foot in an Austin, Texas courtroom this week, Alex Jones had already lost. Jones, the waning king of American conspiracy theories, and Free Speech Systems, the company that owns his InfoWars empire, have already lost two civil cases by default, one in Texas and one in Connecticut, brought by parents of children killed at Sandy Hook, who sued him for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. This week, at long last, after years of increasingly baroque legal wrangling and a conveniently-timed chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing by InfoWars earlier this year, the trial to determine damages began in the Texas case. (Holding companies linked to InfoWars agreed to dismiss the bankruptcy filing in June.) Now, the only remaining question is how much his losses will cost him. 

Jury selection began in the trial on Monday morning, and proved tricky, in that many prospective jurors had trouble understanding that Jones had already lost by default, and that they were only there to determine damages. Once they miraculously managed to empanel a jury comprising locals who didn’t yet have opinions about Alex Jones, one of Austin’s more prominent residents, both sides settled in for what promises to be at least two weeks of argument about Jones’ impact on public discourse and his place in the conspiracy ecosystem. Jones is set for a lot of time in court: a second damages trial, for the other plaintiffs, Veronique and Lenny Posner, whose son Noah was Sandy Hook’s youngest victim, is scheduled to begin in September, followed by another damages trial in Connecticut. (Disclosure: Both Bankston and Norm Pattis, a longtime attorney for Jones and InfoWars, informally asked me if I would consider acting as an expert witness on conspiracy theories in the case; in both instances I declined.)