Judge to Alex Jones “You are already under oath to tell the truth and you have violated that oath twice today” : publicfreakout

[–] Vorticity@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I don't understand how he didn't wind up in jail for contempt during this sentencing phase. In civil trials, Texas has a trial phase and a sentencing phase. Jones didn't provide documentation he was required to provide and basically didn't participate in the trial phase. As a consequence he was found "guilty by default" and they moved on to the sentencing phase.

During the sentencing phase he kept telling the jury that he was innocent despite having been found guilty. He continuously spoke to the press to talk about all of the evidence he wasn't being allowed to present and how he wasn't being allowed to defend himself. He had a chance to do that but decided not to.

He even called the judge a "tyrant" where she could hear him.

I don't understand how he didn't get at least a little jail te for contempt. I also don't get how he still has money flowing well enough to continue running his business. It's mid boggling what this guy gets away with.

[–] Cheems@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I just think that it's crazy that if it were to be some other random person instead of a right wing figure head they'd immediately be in contempt for this kind of behavior. Because they are well known they get special treatment and that just shows that there are a different set of rules for the wealthy and well connected.

[–] ashok36@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

More likely is that the judge is highly aware that Jones will try to use anything to get her default judgement and the jury awards thrown out on appeal. She gave him a super long leash and he still got defaulted and a judgement of around $500m. I'd say she did an ok job.

[–] leftenddev 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The judge knew that he would want that. AJ's whole bread and butter is persecution fetish. He wanted a fire to draw media attention and eyes on infowars for traffic revenue, and to use it as a prop that he's being directly attacked by the justice system for "the truth". The judge did not give him what he wanted and let him make a fool of himself fishing for a reaction like the petulant child and bully he is. This also makes it that much harder for any appeal on her decision to succeed from his team, since by all accounts, she clearly wasn't going as hard at him as she could have, so the ruling looks more than fair

[–] Vorticity@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yeah, you're probably right on all counts. Contempt charges are only an effective deterant if the person is scared of being charged with contempt. In this case, contempt charges were probably what Alex was aiming for and the judge was smart enough to not play his game.

The fact that changing Alex with contempt could lead some to think the judge was biased makes me think that, maybe, there should be another way for contempt charges to be levied. Maybe the presiding district court should be able to step in when circumstances dictate. I know that's probably a dumb idea for many reasons.

[–] athos77@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

This link goes to Reddit, however, we have used a direct video link to avoid giving them ad revenue.

So they still get clicks and can claim the traffic? No thanks.

[–] Hyacathusarullistad@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

"Sorry your honor, I understand now that I wasn't clear enough: I should clarify that I mean I'm morally bankrupt."

[+] TheKarion@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] athos77@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

But it still drives traffic to reddit, letting them claim that nothing material has changed and it's still a good investment. A better thing to do would be to re-host the video on a different site so that reddit is deprived of both traffic and ad revenue.

[–] Jaysyn@kbin.social -3 points 1 year ago

Yet more evidence of the dual justice system in the USA.

Public Freakout