Well, as we might imagine, the Alex Jones Infowars trial is not going well for Infowars. A producer, Daria Karpov testified and she evaded many questions. She evaded questions about Infowars’ audience size. The questioning then addressed the “crisis actors” issue. Alex Jones had claimed many times that the Sandy Hook Elementary children were not actually killed. There were crisis actors from a nearby school who pretended to be killed. Mr. Jones relied on a “truther” named Wolfgang Halbig for this claim.

When asked about Mr. Halbig, Ms. Karpova dodged questions about what steps were taken to vet Mr. Halbig’s claims or credentials. Karpova insisted they did not have time to “go through” every email it receives. Ms. Karpova insisted Mr. Jones might have mis-remembered things Halbig said, but he believed what he was saying. Even though Mr. Halbig was a guest on Alex Jones’ show, the producer testified that Jones relied on what Halbig was saying – while admitting they conducted no fact-checking of their own.

Rebuked

When shown videos in which Jones alleged New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg sent emails to gun control groups saying the shooting would be staged within 24 hours, Ms. Karpova said she did not recall the video. When asked if she recalled her prior testimony in her own deposition, Ms. Karpova said the did recall. The judge rebuked her for not remembering. He did not accept Ms. Karpova’s apology. It is unusual for a witness to not recall what s/he said at a prior deposition. Typically, the lawyer shows the prior testimony to the witness and then asks if the witness recalls what she said earlier.

Evasion

When asked if Jones showed maps on his show which showed the physical location of the Sandy Hook parents’ homes, Ms. Karpova again evaded. The judge fussed at her again. Judge Gamble agreed Karpova was not responding to the question.

Ms. Karpova refused to answer questions about an email sent from Mr. Halbig to one of the parents saying “the scam is up.” She refused to answer questions about a letter sent by the nearby school, St. Rose of Lima to Halbig warning him to stay away from their property. Even though the letter was displayed on-screen in the court room, she would not answer questions about the letter.

Ms. Karpova was apparently not employed by Free Speech Systems during the Sandy Hook shooting. Jones’ attorney argued that Ms. Karpova, therefore, could not testify as a corporate representative. The judge, however, sided with the parents’ lawyer on that issue. The families’ lawyer asked Karpova if Alex Jones comments about the Sandy Hook shooting were false. She looked at Mr. Jones in the court room and answered, “yes.”

The Finger

Later in the day, the lawyers fussed about a video. The families’ lawyer objected to using the video in court, apparently on the basis they had not seen it before. The judge told the lawyers to confer about they could agree on about the video. The judge left the court room, which means the jury also left. During the discussion, Jones’ attorney raised his voice and called the families’ lawyer a liar and shot him the finger. See San Antonio Express-News report here for more information.

Getting fussed at by the judge resonates with the jury in a major way. The Sandy Hook families have reason to believe the trial is going well for them, so far.