Alex Jones' lawyer may face legal repercussions after phone records disclosure
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Alex Jones’ lawyer may face professional or legal consequences after accidentally sending his client's phone records to the opposing counsel, Reuters reports.
Driving the news: Frederico Reynal, who represented the Infowars host in a civil trial that concluded this week, sent a trove of Jones' previously undisclosed phone data to the legal team representing two Sandy Hook Elementary School families who sued the conspiracy theorist for defamation.
- A Texas jury ruled this week that Jones must pay the families $49.2 million in combined compensatory and punitive damages for spreading misinformation that the 2012 mass shooting, which killed 20 children and six educators, was a hoax.
Catch up fast: "Twelve days ago, your attorneys messed up and sent me an entire digital copy of your entire cell phone with every text message you've sent for the past two years ... and that is how I know you lied to me when you said you didn't have text messages about Sandy Hook," said Mark Bankston, the attorney for Sandy Hook victims' families, Wednesday in court.
- Reynal asked for a mistrial over the mistaken disclosure but the judge presiding over the case denied his request.
- Judge Maya Guerra Gamble told jurors the contents of Jones' phone were not "properly turned over when it should have been."
- On Friday, Reynal told the judge that he became aware of the disclosure when Jones was facing questions about it on Wednesday. Gamble said that was “not true,” adding that Reynal had provided the court with an email showing he realized the mistake 12 days earlier, per Reuters.
- The Jan. 6 select committee has since requested Jones' records as part of its ongoing investigation into the Capitol riot.
State of play: Jones could sue Reynal for malpractice, but his claim would hinge on proving his civil trial would have ended in a better result for him if Reynal hadn't disclosed the data, per Reuters.
- There are currently no open disciplinary proceedings against Reynal, who is licensed in Texas.
The other side: Reynal said after the case concluded that his focus "was always on the jury and on putting the best case forward for [Jones],” Reuters reports.
