Focus on Ethics & Civility

• Jurisdiction: Utah,United States
• Citation: Vol. 35 No. 6 Pg. 55
• Pages: 55
• Publication year: 2022

Focus on Ethics & CivilityNo. Vol. 35 No. 6 Pg. 55Utah Bar JournalDecember, 2022

November, 2022

Lessons From Alex Jones: The Rules Governing Inadvertently Produced Documents

by Keith A. Call

For those of you who live in a cave, Alex Jones is a talk show host/podcaster who has promoted various conspiracy theories. One tragic conspiracy he promoted is that the Sandy Hook shooting massacre was a hoax. As you are likely aware, a Texas jury recently awarded nearly $50 million to the parents of one of the Sandy Hook victims who sued Jones and his cohorts for defamation, and a Connecticut jury awarded nearly $1 billion. As of this writing other cases against Jones are pending.

One of the Perry Mason moments of the Texas trial was when the plaintiff’s lawyer surprised Jones by cross-examining him about text messages from his cell phone that he did not know had been produced. You can watch some of the drama here, see The Age & Sydney Morning Herald, Memorable Moments from the Alex Jones Trial, YouTube (Aug. 4, 2022), https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=OFHTEd0RlAI, in which the following exchange occurred:

Q [by Mark Bankston, plaintiff’s lawyer]: Did you know that 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 when informed, did not take any steps to identify it as privileged or protected in any way, and as of two days ago, it fell free and clear into my possession, and that is how I know you lied to me when you said you didn’t have text messages about Sandy Hook, did you know that?

A [by Mr. Jones]: I . see, I told you the truth. This is your Perry Mason moment. I gave them my phone, and [interruption by the Court].

See id. at 1:07.

...