Considering who Alex Jones is – a right-wing conspiracy theorist and InfoWars host who routinely denigrated and defamed the parents of 20 elementary school students and seven adults at the school – it’s hard to imagine who would want to defend his reprehensible actions in court. Jones had the money to pay attorneys, however, and built a legal team to plead his case. Now, a second lawyer in the defamation cases against Jones, cases he lost the tune of $1.5 billion, has had his law license suspended for six months for unethical practices during the trials.
Judge Suspends Law License of Alex Jones' Attorney After Releasing Unauthorized Files https://t.co/VHZe4KBkmq
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) January 6, 2023
Attorney Norm Pattis, one of several attorneys who represented Jones during those trials, saw his law license suspended during an ethics trial for his release of the private medical records of the Sandy Hook victims’ families. The records were private and their transfer was a breach of legal ethics. Judge Barbara Bellis upheld the decision of the Disciplinary Counsel, who recommended suspending Pattis’ license for several months.
According to an NBC News affiliate in Connecticut, Judge Bellis wrote in her decision that:
‘We cannot expect our system of justice or our attorneys to be perfect but we can expect fundamental fairness and decency. There was no fairness or decency in the treatment of the plaintiffs’ most sensitive and personal information, and no excuse for the respondent’s misconduct’
Connecticut's dopey maga lawyer, equally as stupid as the Texas one.
Norm Pattis Appears in Court for Alleged Release of Unauthorized Sandy Hook Files https://t.co/5jyq3o36vp
— Frank Galpin TL;DR 💤 🌻 (@artkincell) August 18, 2022
During the initial trial, an attorney for the victims of defamation, parents and family members of the children murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School, gave testimony about the nature of the files illegally released by Pattis. An NBC affiliate in Connecticut reported at the time that:
‘Attorney Chris Mattei, who represents the Sandy Hook plaintiffs in the Connecticut case, also took the stand. He said he was first contacted by the attorney for Sandy Hook mom Scarlett Lewis and told that the protected records had been released to him around July 24. Mattei also said Pattis texted him that there might have been a violation of the protective order after either he or someone in his office allegedly released the files.’
Judge orders Alex Jones’ Texas attorney to come to Connecticut to answer questions in defamation case https://t.co/Pv2SZXNSs7
— hhk (@hhk) August 6, 2022
The files were initially sent by Pattis to another attorney for Jones, Andino Reynolds, who forwarded them to lawyers for the Sandy Hook victims. Reynolds faced his own legal inquiry earlier in 2022. Mark Bankston, who represented the Sandy Hook families, testified in that hearing in August, according to a report by Connecticut Public Radio:
‘Bankston says Reynal got the files from an attorney defending Jones in Connecticut. “Norm Pattis up in Connecticut was passing this file along to [Jones’ defense attorney in Texas, Andino] Reynal, and I know that because the directories contain … backups of Norm Pattis’ computer,” Bankston said to a Texas judge Thursday.’
Alex Jones lawyer Norm Pattis suspended from practicing law for six months https://t.co/4UiZrCdpzV
— New Haven Register (@nhregister) January 6, 2023
