- The attorney representing Alex Jones in his Sandy Hook defamation damages trial apologized for a heated courtroom spat.
- Jones' attorney clashed with the plaintiff lawyer on Wednesday and gave him the middle finger.
The attorney representing far-right conspiracy broadcaster Alex Jones in his defamation damages trial over falsely claiming the Sandy Hook massacre was a "hoax" apologized on Thursday for a heated courtroom spat and giving the middle finger to the plaintiff lawyer a day earlier.
"I apologize for yesterday's outburst," Jones' defense attorney, F. Andino Reynal, told a Texas court on Thursday before the jury entered the room, adding, "It wasn't appropriate."
Reynal said that he also apologized for his actions in an email to the plaintiff's lawyers who are representing the parents of one of the 20 young children slain in the 2012 Newtown, Connecticut, school mass shooting.
Travis County District Court Judge Maya Guerra Gamble addressed Wednesday's courtroom clash as proceedings got under way on Thursday, saying, "Next time anyone wants to have an argument, you need to take it outside."
"It's not going to happen in here," Gamble said.
—Law&Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) July 28, 2022
Reynal and Mark Bankston, an attorney for the Sandy Hook parents in the civil case, argued in the courtroom on Wednesday over video evidence in the case.
Jones' lawyer accused Bankston of showing the 12-person jury "little clips from cherry-picked videos" from Jones' InfoWars broadcasts about the Sandy Hook shooting, while arguing that he was being barred from showing longer videos.
After Gamble left the courtroom, Reynal moved closer Bankston and flipped the bird to him during the confrontation, video of the incident shows.
Reynal repeatedly called Bankston a "liar" before he put up his middle finger to Bankston, The News-Times reported.
Jones, the founder of InfoWars, has already been found liable for defamation by the Texas court and a court in Connecticut for repeatedly telling his audience that the Sandy Hook massacre was a "giant hoax" staged by the government with "actors."
The jury in the trial will determine how much money Jones must pay to Sandy Hook parents Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose 6-year-old son Jesse Lewis was killed in the shooting that left 26 dead.
Heslin and Lewis are seeking $150 million in damages for Jones' repeated lies about the deadliest school shooting in US history.