Recently, attorney Gabriel Sepulveda-Sanchez appeared on Law & Crime to discuss critical developments in the Alex Jones defamation lawsuit, the Parkland school shooting trial, and the Pike County Massacre case. Gabriel previously discussed the gruesome details of the Pike County Massacre on an earlier episode of Law & Crime.
The Alex Jones defamation trial, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting trial, and the Pike County murders are all cases that have captured the country’s attention.
Below are some of the most interesting twists and turns in these high-profile cases. Watch the most recent episode of Law & Crime for an expert legal opinion on what to expect next.
Money Award in Alex Jones Defamation Lawsuit
Last month, “InfoWars” host Alex Jones lost his defamation trial in Texas. The jury in that case awarded the parents of a victim of the Sandy Hook shooting $45.2 million in punitive damages in addition to the $4.1 million in compensatory damages.
Now, 8 Sandy Hook families and 1 FBI agent have filed a lawsuit against Alex Jones in Connecticut. Because Jones has already lost a lawsuit with the same facts in another state, he has already lost the Connecticut case by default – under the law, there’s no reason for the victims to try to prove the same case all over again. That means the Connecticut jury will only decide how much money these families will be compensated.
The Connecticut trial of Alex Jones will likely last 4-6 weeks.
Parkland Shooting Massacre: Day 10 of Defense’s Case
After a week off, court is back in session in the trial of Parkland, Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz, who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The Parkland shooting trial is currently in the penalty phase, where jurors will take around 16 weeks to decide whether Cruz will face life in prison without parole or the death penalty for his sole role in the murders. The prosecution and defense will present evidence for each side.
For example, the prosecution admitted evidence that Cruz used swastikas. The defense tried to get the case dismissed on a mistrial because of it, but the judge denied their motion. One teacher testified to the jury about Cruz’s pattern of disruptive misbehavior in her classroom. These aggravating factors could lead to a more severe sentence.
Pike County Massacre Jury Finalized
The Pike County Massacre was a gruesome murder of multiple members of the Rhoden family in Ohio in 2016. George Wagner IV is on trial for aggravated murder and other charges. Three of his family members are also implicated in conspiring with Wagner to carry out the murder.
The motive behind the murders was a child custody battle between George’s brother Jake Wagner and Hanna Rhoden. Jake and Angela Wagner, George’s mother, pleaded guilty to their part in the murders in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table for the whole family. They will also testify for the prosecution against George in his trial.
The trial is moving forward now that the jury has been finalized with 9 women and 3 men on the panel. Opening arguments started Monday, September 12th and the trial is expected to last 6-8 weeks. The jurors recently got a view of the crime scenes where the murders happened.
Watch this segment of Law & Crime now.