VERDICT WATCH: Alex Jones Defamation Trial: Sandy Hook 'Hoax' Lawsuit-Connecticut Trial Day Fifteen
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We have a record in the Lafferty v.
Jones matters in deliberation.
If Council could identify themselves for the record, please.
Hey, Sheriff.
Chris Maddy today joined by Matthew Blumenthal on behalf of the plaintiffs.
Good morning.
Good morning, Judge.
Norm Pattis on behalf of Alex Jones with Free Speed Systems.
Good morning.
Have a seat.
So your jury was here on time, as always, and they are in the process of Writing a note because they asked Ron for some easels and dry erase or something and Ron said to them, put it in a note.
We want to get them in the routine of making sure they put any communications in a note.
So I think they're doing that now.
and in the meantime Ron is has already did you get the right all right so then we'll bring them out and we'll deal with the note on the record and then I'm going to leave because I have another matter but if you want Ron will go through the pad of paper you know what do you call it Ron
the big easel pad to make sure that it's you know each page is clean but I invite you know both of you to go through the pages as well make sure there's no prior markings on it I I assume you have no objection to giving them whatever they ask for by way of dry erase or markers.
No objection, Judge.
No objection, Judge.
I think we'll wait for the note.
Sure.
I think we could probably bring, if the note is ready, we could bring them in with the note.
Don't you think for this since we know what it's about?
Okay.
Any other issues while we're waiting?
Nothing from the defendants, Judge.
- Okay. - I guess I should just say thank you for your courtesies in the course of a difficult trial.
I know that I've given you fits from time to time.
I always do.
That's my role, it seems, in life.
But I'm grateful for the courtesies, including the coffee and refreshments in the secret bunker for lawyers.
Your Honor, I brought the note without the jury because there's a second request.
All right, so...
It is 9.35 a.m.
We'll mark this as court exhibit.
Yeah, there's actually going to be court exhibit one in Roman Nunes.
We have three court exhibits, number 597, 598. But they were already marked.
What about the...
The charge, the draft positions of the charge.
I haven't gotten those yet.
Okay.
All right, so this is court exhibit Roman numeral one.
Roman numeral one, yes.
All right.
So it says, quote, may we please have Expo, dry erase markers, an eraser, and an easel with markers, please.
Second request is can we also have a written copy of the charge.
Signed.
Cannot read the handwriting.
Do you know what juror it is?
I do.
I don't know if you want to say anything.
All right.
Signed October 7, 2022. How about a sidebar, counsel?
Mr. Ferraro, is the transcript from the charge done?
I would have to check with the court of forms.
Probably not, right?
Here's the charge.
Sure.
No.
Is it?
Mm-hmm.
I'm going to show it.
Sure.
I just didn't want to say it.
I'm not sure.
I guess I do.
Okay.
Um, all right.
Which one is it?
So let's go back.
So no problem.
Ron, you have a dry erase marker, an eraser, and an easel with markers?
Yes, Your Honor.
And you'll just show Council the...
Well, they didn't ask for a pad here, so just in...
Is there something in the...
Is there already one in the jury room?
There is a dry erase board.
I do not know how dry erasing is anymore. - I think it's a-- - It's not that big, normally, it's gonna be easily paper, so they have more options. - So you'll work that out with council.
The written copy of the charge, when they come out, we don't have it ready yet, so I suppose I can just tell them that we don't have it ready yet when the transcript is ready or they can have playback.
What do you suggest?
I'll start with you, Attorney Pattis.
Do we know when a written copy of the transcript will be ready?
Almost done.
I would suggest then that letting them know that they will get it as soon as it's ready is being prepared.
Yeah, I agree.
Alrighty, so why don't we bring them out?
And Chris, I will move you.
Madam Monitor.
I'm going to give you my money of the charge to give to them.
Because it's got a lot of scribble, scribble.
And I did change some words from a to the, like some little minor changes like that, but I think you should use this and proofread it really carefully.
If it takes another two hours to proofread it, because that's what we're going to do.
Good morning, good morning, good morning on this beautiful day.
And then we Would you have a seat?
Thank you.
Council will stipulate that our panel of six has returned.
Yes, yes, Your Honor.
This is exactly what you're supposed to do.
We have your note signed by the foreperson, dated, written neatly.
So with respect to your first request, Mr. Farrell will get on that right away.
I'm not sure if that dry erase board has much life left to it, so it may be that he substitutes an easel and paper, but in any event, if you're not satisfied with what he gives you, you just let us know by way of a note and we'll respond.
And then the second issue, the written copy of the charge, The court monitor is working on it.
I'm going to give you a copy of the transcript.
My copy of the charge has all scribble-scrabble all over it.
You would never be able to read it.
So if you're able to do other work while you're waiting for this, that's fine.
Otherwise, I think it probably will be a few hours because Now that we're going to give it to you, which is not my standard practice, but we're happy to do it, we need to really proofread it very, very carefully.
I need to give the lawyers an opportunity to proofread it as well, so it may be some time.
All right?
So with that, we will send you to your deliberation room, and we all stand by for any further notes.
Now, if you need something for your comfort, like, you know, more Keurigs or You know cups or something along those lines you can let Ron know but this is exactly the procedure that you follow so you get it exactly right with anything that you need any questions that you have so we thank you very much for that all right and you'll take I'm sorry one more thing you can take whatever breaks you want throughout the day you don't have to let us know of course that you will just continue
The rule of only deliberate, only discuss the case when all six of you are together and only in that realm.
The only thing that I will say is that we all need to break for lunch from one to two so that if you had a question between one and two, we wouldn't be able to respond.
So it's probably for the best that you just plan on using one to two for your lunch as well and clear your head.
Okay?
All right.
Thank you.
Okay, so you'll check so you'll check with Ron, make sure that you agree with what he's sending in there.
I'm going to give my copy of the charge to Mrs. Ellis, who was our monitor yesterday, so that she can triple check it, but then we're going to give you a copy of the transcript of the charge as well, because, you know, you'll need to look at it before we send it in as well.
Understood.
Okay.
Anything further?
Nope.
All right, so we'll take a recess.
All right, so let me give this to you.
Get up to the judge.
Get up to the judge.
He's seated.
Okay, so we have a note from the jury.
It was received at 3.45 p.m.
We'll mark it as a court exhibit, and it reads, quote, Is there a video clip in evidence showing a profile photo of David Wheeler and William Aldenberg, If so, can we view it?
End quote.
Signed and dated by your foreperson.
Want me to read it again?
No, I think I have it.
But I'm not sure what a profile photo might...
Is there a video clip in evidence showing a profile photo of David Wheeler and William Altenberg?
It says, video clip.
There is a...
I know we have a...
Your Honor, should we just kind of focus and think about it, or do you want me to tell you where to go?
You can talk to each other right now and see what, and Attorney Pattis as well.
Do you have a list of the exhibits on that I could see a current one?
Do you have a list of exhibits?
Let's move it.
There is a...
There was just enough photo.
There was just kind of a set of stuff.
Your Honor, could we have the exact wording of that again?
Absolutely.
Thank you.
Is there a video clip in evidence showing a profile photo of David Wheeler and William Aldenberg?
If so, can we view it?
The word clip is inserted after video.
I don't read all one, Judge.
I don't think there was one.
I'm just going through the exhibit list.
I think we have a photo still, but the question is what it is.
Well, I mean, I suppose you could refer them to the photos and evidence and then the video clips and evidence.
But the -- in other words, we could give them the exhibits that might cover what they're referring to, and then they can -- There is no video...
I'm confident there is no video clip showing David Wheeler and Bill Altberg together.
I'm confident.
I didn't read that it was together.
I just...
I read it.
I didn't read that it was together.
What about you, Attorney Patz?
I didn't, but now that Mr. Manish said that, could you read the note for a fourth time?
Is there a video clip in evidence showing a profile photo of David Wheeler and William Aldenburg?
If so, can we view it?
Well, I guess I presume the end mean together.
Well, I suppose we could just answer the question.
There is not a photo of the two of them together.
A video of it.
Video clip.
There's not a video clip showing a profile photo of them both together, and then we could refer them to the exhibits that have photos of either of them.
They have those photos.
Well, I know they do.
So, I mean, I'd say we just answer the question.
No, there is not.
Well, if they mean together.
Right.
So, your honor, there is no video of them yet, all right?
I think it's fine to answer the question.
There is no video of them together.
And then we would just need to go over the exhibits to the extent you want to refer them to other exhibits that may come to this topic.
I just don't understand the question because I'm not sure.
It says, is there a video clip showing a profile photo?
So...
Well, maybe the court could...
Inquire the jury to express a little bit of confusion about it and ask for some clarification and see if they want to go back and reframe the question.
That's probably the best course, Judge.
How about there is no video clip or profile photo of Well, I think that's both beyond the note.
I happen to agree with Attorney Casca, maybe the first time at trial.
The question is, is there a video clip?
There is not.
And then inquire of them for further direction.
They're clearly wondering about something.
They've seen the photos.
They're missing something.
We need further clarification.
If you're unclear about what they mean, if they can specify a little further, that would be helpful to us.
There's a photo, I don't know if it's what I did, but there is a photo that was taken from a video, but it's not the court.
In other words, one way to, I take the court to be suggesting you might read that note as wondering whether they're referring to more than one photo.
But they say a photo or a video clip.
If there's a question in your mind, maybe they're not professional communicators and we need some further guidance.
Are these who I have, judges?
There is a photo taken of a video still It's not, we didn't offer the clip itself, we just offered a still of the video.
So that's why I think it's worthwhile to get some clarification.
I'll ask them for clarification.
So just ask them, can you please be more specific?
I mean, I read it a little, I may be reading it right or I might be reading it wrong, but it's unclear to me if they're looking for a photo of the two of them together.
Do we want them to specify that?
Because I'm not sure what this means.
Yeah, I think just take it in steps and ask them to clarify or to be more specific and then we can respond from there.
Okay, why don't you bring them out?
Okay.
Good afternoon.
Okay.
Council will stipulate that our panel has returned.
Yes.
So I want to thank you for following the exact procedure that you're supposed to follow.
It makes it much easier for us.
However, we have discussed the request and we're going to ask that you please restate the request in more detail, if possible, Because we need clarification on what you are asking for.
So what we will do is we will have you go back into the jury deliberating room, you take your time, and we will await another note and hopefully we'll be able to respond to that to your satisfaction.
All right, thank you.
By the way, thank you for that language that you submitted on the media and jury communication.
issue around But you're in agreement.
I think it's terrific language and I'll just insert it right in there.
Judge, are we waiting for them to come back with a note?
Yeah, I don't think it makes any sense to...
I don't think it makes any sense.
No, I was just in a situation once before and the juries went back into the room and they never came out.
Well, we'll spend the weekend here.
I've had him do this in the quick perfects, too.
Ah, the heck with it.
Don't you trust me, period.
Jennifer, Jennifer just seen one of his story in the three case that was Judge Dorsey.
She had punitive damages to the federal court.
And the jury sends a note out with a question about punitive damages.
The director, they request a caliphany.
So, of course, she's having it, right?
Ten minutes later.
Zero.
That's right.
We have a...
Zero damage.
No, I don't want to push that.
Sure.
Sure.
Thank you.
My thought was to, after we deal with this, is to probably bring them out or ask Ron to bring them out around 4.30ish and if they give us any pushback that they're close to a verdict then we'll stay, which sometimes they would, but that's my thought process.
I don't think we need to push up to 5 o'clock on a Friday.
Agreed.
Thank you.
I just said to Ron, as soon as I take a recess and go back to my chambers, I'll be turning right around to come back.
But I think that's what I'll do, and maybe that'll bring us an answer.
So I'll take the recess.
All rise.
So, received 415.
We'll mark this as a court exhibit.
Quote, we decided we do not need to see the exhibit at this time.
Apologies for the inconvenience, exclamation point, end quote, signed and dated by the court person.
My thought process is if you all agreed that we just sent Ron in to see if they would like to end for the day and give them that option if they want it to end now and if they want to continue to deliberate another 20 minutes or so, let them do that.
They started at 930, so I don't know that they know they could end a little early.
I'll defer to the court, Judge.
Do you have a preference?
I just wanted to let them decide.
Yeah, maybe just have a trade-for-all say that whenever they're ready.
You know what I mean?
Like, instead of saying, do you want to leave early, you could say, at any point before 5, just let us know.
Well, I'm going to end them at quarter of 5 anyway.
So how about if we say, we'll bring you back in at quarter of 5, but if you would like to end before then, just let us know.
Perfect.
And see what they say.
Okay.
So let me give you this.
and then i'm going to go too and if it turns out they want to leave now just let me know okay take a recess So we have a new note received at 4
.35 p.m.
We'll mark it as a court exhibit.
Quote, is there an explicit reason as to why Erica Lafferty's name is listed in the title of the lawsuit rather than the name of any other plaintiff parens referring to quote Lafferty v.
Jones end quote and parens signed and dated by the foreperson.
I would agree to say no.
I think we probably should just explain that all the plaintiffs are listed but their short form caption only was the first name.
I didn't get that though.
All the plaintiffs are listed in the lawsuit.
Whatever you said was good.
All the plaintiffs are listed in the lawsuit.
And then what did you say?
And then I said the title of the lawsuit is abbreviated so as to only include the short form.
What about explaining at all, Judge, to say at all refers to the rather?
If that's on there.
I still vote for no.
Yeah, I think it needs a little explanation though.
Keep us here for a long time before we're in the middle.
No, we can do it right now.
Just a long week in the day.
All the plaintiffs are listed in the lawsuit.
Whatever you said the first time.
The short form title of the complaint only lists the first one.
Any objection?
No.
The short...
What was the next word?
The short form title.
The short form title.
of the complaint only lists the first plaintiff.
And then we go out and explain what short form is.
Just teasing.
How about we do this?
How about we say, the short answer is no.
The more detailed explanation is, okay?
Alright, let's bring them out.
and then they did indicate that they wanted to end now anyway so this is perfect and can you inquire them when they want us back I am.
I'm going to ask if they would like to do 930 again, which I am going to assume they will.
I'm going to ask if they would like to do 1030 again, which I am going to assume they will.
Hey, welcome back.
This was impeccable timing anyway, so it works out well, happy.
Council will stipulate that our entire panel has returned.
All right, so again, you follow the procedure perfectly to a T and we can answer this question.
The short answer to the question is no, there's no explicit reason.
The more detailed answer is that all of the plaintiffs are actually listed in the lawsuit, but the short form title Of the complaint can only list the first plaintiff, and here that happened to be Erica Lafferty.
So I hope that answers your question.
If it doesn't, when we pick up again next week, you can follow through with another note.
So I forgot to ask Ron to ask you this, but maybe we can just do it by a thumbs up or thumbs down or a shake of the head.
We're assuming that you would like to come back At 930 again instead of 10?
Yeah.
This is such an agreeable jury.
That's perfect.
Now just remember, Monday is a state holiday, federal holiday, so we are not open on Monday.
So we're not going to see you again until Tuesday.
Okay?
So Tuesday at 930. I know you know the rules.
It is another long weekend for you, and it will probably not be easy for you to avoid.
Um, anything about the case, but again, we'll put those blinders on and we'll continue to do what you've done all along.
Um, so that we don't have any issues.
We hope it looks like it's supposed to be really nice weather this weekend.
So I hope you can get out there and enjoy the nice weather and we will see you all.
Tuesday at 930 have a wonderful weekend, warm weekend and have us a journey home.