HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A lawyer for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is going through scrutiny from a Connecticut choose, who started listening to testimony Wednesday on whether or not the lawyer needs to be disciplined for giving different attorneys for Jones extremely delicate paperwork, together with medical information of family members of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary College taking pictures.

Lawyer Norman Pattis is representing Jones in a defamation lawsuit filed by Sandy Hook households towards Jones for calling the 2012 taking pictures in Newtown, Connecticut, a hoax. Twenty first-graders and 6 educators had been killed.

The Connecticut trial is separate from a trial in Texas that ended earlier this month with a jury awarding greater than $49 million to the dad and mom of one of many slain youngsters. There’s additionally a second lawsuit towards Jones in Texas by Sandy Hook households over the hoax claims.

Pattis, who didn’t testify Wednesday, has denied violating Decide Barbara Bellis’ order within the case to not disclose confidential paperwork to unauthorized individuals. Pattis mentioned he was “assured in our protection” in a quick response to an e mail looking for remark Wednesday.

A lawyer for the Sandy Hook households, Christopher Mattei, testified Wednesday that Pattis despatched him a textual content during which Pattis mentioned he might have violated the doc disclosure order. After a pair hours of testimony earlier than Bellis in Waterbury, Connecticut, the listening to was continued to subsequent week.

Jury choice earlier than Bellis is ready to renew Thursday for a trial on how a lot in damages Jones ought to pay the households. Bellis discovered him chargeable for damages final November.

In line with courtroom paperwork, Pattis despatched numerous information from the Connecticut defamation case throughout the previous month to the lawyer representing Jones in Texas in the same lawsuits by Sandy Hook dad and mom over the hoax claims, in addition to a chapter case for one in all Jones’ firms.

It hasn’t been made clear what paperwork Pattis allegedly despatched. However from what has emerged from courtroom paperwork, lawyer feedback and the Texas lawsuit, they seem to have included confidential medical information of a few of the Sandy Hook victims’ family members in addition to texts from Jones’ mobile phone.

Jones’ attorneys in Texas mistakenly despatched the final two years’ price of texts from Jones’ cellphone an legal professional for a Sandy Hook household. Within the just lately accomplished Texas case, Jones had mentioned he didn’t have any texts about Sandy Hook. Authorized consultants say that episode might open Jones as much as a potential perjury cost.