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A Form of Psychosis




Alex Jones, of Infowars, has decided that sometimes mass shootings aren't staged. They aren't all "false flags" operations, and apparently the Sandy Hook shooting was one of the real ones.

Further, he has diagnosed himself, saying (in response to a lawsuit by one of the families of the dead children), that he suffers from a "form of psychosis." I'm not sure that diagnosis helps him in the civil case.

Here is Slate's coverage of Jones' latest, with links to others: click at will.

Unfortunate psychosis indeed, from which (1) he has not as yet fully recovered; (2) he only recognizes as such when things aren't going his way in court, and (3) one that he continues to try to create in others.
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Comments

  1. HenryApril 6, 2019 at 7:12 AM

    Christopher, you raise an excellent question, which I've never thought about: is insanity a defense in a civil (tort) suit? If I recall correctly, a criminal conviction by itself constitutes proof in a tort suit for damages resulting from the criminal conduct. That is because a criminal conviction requires a higher burden of proof (beyond a reasonable doubt) than does a civil suit (preponderance of the evidence). So, would a successful assertion of a defense of insanity in a criminal prosecution get the defendant off in a civil suit? Perhaps not, because the mens rea required to be convicted of a crime is not required to be proved in a civil suit. But maybe it depends upon whether the civil suit is for an intentional tort (which it probably would be if the plaintiff is suing for damages resulting from the defendant's criminal conduct), in which case the defendant could argue that he lacked the intention to commit an intentional tort; or the suit is for negligence, in which case the defendant's state of mind might not matter.

    The above comments are off the top of my head and not the product of legal research.

    ReplyDelete
  2. PescoSeptember 1, 2019 at 8:04 AM

    Good Article Thanks.
    Cricket Update

    ReplyDelete

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