Judge denies Alex Jones’ attorney’s request for a mistrial

By Oliver Darcy, CNN Business

A Texas judge on Thursday denied a request for a mistrial from the attorney for right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in a trial that will decide how much in damages is awarded to the parents of a Sandy Hook victim who won a default judgment against Jones.

A hearing about the request for a mistrial, which was held as the jury conducted its first day of deliberations on defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims, was centered around a disclosure in court on Wednesday.

In a stunning moment as he cross-examined Jones on Wednesday, Mark Bankston, the attorney for the Sandy Hook parents, revealed Jones’ attorney had “messed up” and sent him two years of records from Jones’ phone.

Jones’ attorney, Federico Andino Reynal, on Thursday requested at the hearing that Bankston delete the phone records and asked for a mistrial.

Judge Maya Guerra Gamble, who is overseeing the case, suggested to Reynal she could not tell whether his motion for a mistrial was serious or not. She noted he has repeatedly moved for a mistrial during various court proceedings and been denied each time.

After Reynal indicated he was serious in asking for a mistrial, Gamble denied the request.

Reynal also asked for 10 days to review the phone records so that he could move to prevent the release of some of the information in them as privileged. Gamble denied his request to receive 10 days, but did give him some time to him to review the material and research whether any privileges apply.

“I think you should try to work on it today and see what you can get done,” Gamble said.

During the hearing, Bankston said that the committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol has expressed interest in obtaining Jones’ phone records. Bankston said he has also received interest in the records from law enforcement and other parties suing Jones over his lies regarding the Sandy Hook shooting.

Bankston said he was inclined to turn that information over, barring an order from the judge not to do so.

“I don’t know that you get to stop that anyway,” Gamble said in reference to the January 6th committee requesting the material, noting they would likely subpoena it if it wasn’t voluntarily handed over.

Bankston declined to tell CNN which law enforcement agencies might have expressed interest to him about Jones’ phone records. The January 6th committee had no comment on the matter Thursday.

Jones was a central player on January 6. He was at the US Capitol riling up protesters, though he did not storm inside the building and denounced any suggestion that he had been involved in the planning of violence at the Capitol.

Jones also testified before the the January 6 Committee. But he said on his show that he’d repeatedly asserted his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.

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