Alex Jones Destroyed Evidence In Sandy Hook Defamation Cases, Motion Says

Alex Jones, the conspiracy theory-peddling host of Infowars, deleted evidence that links him to multiple defamation lawsuits brought against him by the families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, according to a new motion.

The motion filed Friday in Texas by attorney Mark Bankston accuses Jones of having “intentionally deleted a variety of social media pages and video content relating to the Sandy Hook shooting” earlier this month. 

Jones is currently facing three separate defamation lawsuits from the parents of children who were gunned down in the elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012. 

Jones has repeatedly called the parents “crisis actors” and has said interviews with outlets including CNN were faked with green screens. He published a video last year titled “Sandy Hook Vampires Exposed.” 

Many of Jones’ followers believe the shooting was a hoax perpetrated by the government, and they still harass the parents of victims. 

The new motion was filed on behalf of Neil Heslin, who lost his 6-year-old son in the shooting. It argues that mounting pressure from the lawsuits drove Jones to “destroy evidence of his actual malice and defamatory conduct. Infowars deleted critical evidence at the precise moment plaintiff and his experts were attempting to marshal that evidence.”

Jones and his lawyer could be fined thousands of dollars if a judge finds that evidence was willfully destroyed, The New York Times points out. This could become another nail in a slowly assembled coffin for Jones’ livelihood. Major tech companies including YouTube and Facebook have banned Jones from their platforms in recent weeks, presumably leading him to lose revenue. 

Jones is also facing two other defamation lawsuits, including one from a man whom Infowars falsely identified as the Parkland, Florida, school shooter earlier this year. That man is also being represented by Bankston.

A Texas judge is currently deciding whether to accept Jones’ motions to dismiss the Parkland case and a Sandy Hook case involving parents Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa. Jones’ attorney, Mark Enoch, attempted earlier this month to make public the addresses of Pozner and De La Rosa. After HuffPost reported on the story, he said in a new court filing that was not his intent.

A hearing for Jones’ motion to dismiss Heslin’s case is set to take place on Aug. 30 in Austin, Texas.