Parents of Sandy Hook Victims Terrified Followers of Alex Jones Are Coming to Kill Them, Psychiatrist Tells Court
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As the parents of a six-year-old child murdered in the Sandy Hook massacre prepared to take the witness stand Monday in the defamation trial against Alex Jones, who repeatedly called the massacre a hoax, new details have emerged regarding the threats and harassment the parents faced as a result of Jones’ words.
Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of Jesse Lewis, filed suit against Jones in an Austin, Texas courtroom and were expected to testify Monday. Their forensic psychologist Roy Lubit took the stand first and detailed the fear the couple lived with after Jones accused their murdered child of being a crisis actor in an elaborate conspiracy.
During his testimony, Lubit told the courtroom that the couple was forced to hire private security to protect themselves from Jones’ followers.
“They are very, very frightened of someone, some follower of Jones, trying to kill them,” Lubit testified.
“No, it’s not unreasonable. I think it’s— there’s a real threat,” he added when questioned about the reality the couple faces.
Law&Crime’s Adam Klasfeld summed up Lubit’s testimony, noting the scale on which Jones’s accusations had permeated the public:
According to the testimony, both of the parents sought mental health treatment and have reported unique mental health concerns stemming from Sandy Hook conspiracy theories.
The parents estimate that those theories have been embraced by 75 million people, and Lubit noted that — given the current U.S. population 329.5 million people — it would make the family reasonably view a possible threat from roughly one in every four people.
Lubit explained that the couple has good reason to fear “one in four people anywhere in this country you go, is going to reject you, think poorly of you, despise you, could well hassle you, verbally assault you or physically assault you.”
Heslin and Lewis are suing for $150 million in damages from Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems LLC.
Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday night in Texas, but a bankruptcy judge ruled early Monday morning that the trial could still continue. Jones was accused in April of attempting to hide assets by moving some $18 million out of the companies associated with his InfoWars entertainment empire and into shell companies.
Jones is facing several lawsuits against him from Sandy Hook parents claiming they faced harassment and threats due to his false claims. He has already been found liable for defamation in this case, due to a default judgment entered against him in 2021 when he failed to put on a defense, according to Reuters.
Jones’s attempts to shield assets from his alleged victims could still prove at least partially successful, Reuters notes, because “Jones and his company could later attempt to use the bankruptcy proceedings, commenced in another Texas court, to avoid paying the full jury award in the defamation case.”
