Alex Jones is back in court over his claims that Sandy Hook was a hoax.

Alex Jones began hearing arguments by a Connecticut jury this week to decide how much money he should pay the families of eight Sandy Hook shooting victims and an FBI agent who responded to the shooting in 2012.

This is the second trial for the InfoWars host, who was ordered by a Texas jury last month to pay almost $50 million in damages to the parents of one of the children who died for the suffering caused by his lies about the massacre.

Jones was not in the courtroom this past Tuesday.

The trial is being held in Waterbury, about 20 miles from Newtown, where a gunman killed 20 first graders and six teachers.

Judge Barbara Bellis found Jones liable without a trial last year after he failed to handover documents to lawyers of the families.

Bellis sanctioned Jones’ legal team for what she described as their “stunningly cavalier attitude” toward turning over evidence before opening statements were given.

Bellis said they “consistently engaged in dilatory and obstructive discovery practices.”

Jones’ attorneys did not turn over data of his Infowars website’s traffic.

Bellis told jurors that Jones has already been found liable for damages to the plaintiffs for repeatedly saying the shooting was a hoax on multiple platforms and claiming that no one had died in the shooting. Bellis explained to the six-member jury that their task is to decide how much Jones must pay the plaintiffs for defaming them.

During opening statements, Christopher Mattei, an attorney for the families, told jurors of Jones’ business model, saying he profited off of spreading “fear and anxiety and paranoia in his audience.” Mattei showed slides of Infowars traffic data, including one showing that in December 2012, the month of the Sandy Hook shooting, the site attracted more than 4.6 million users and upward of 24.9 million page views.

Mattei told jurors that Alex Jones has been promoting lies on his online and radio shows by saying that the Sandy Hook massacre was staged by crisis actors for the federal government as a reason to take away people’s guns.

Mattei told the jury that the targets of Jones’ lies were “defenseless.”

“They didn’t have the platform that Alex Jones did. They didn’t know who Alex Jones was,” Mattei said. “But he knew who they were. His audience knew who they were.”

The families of the victims and William Aldenberg, an FBI agent who responded to the Sandy Hook shooting, have said they have been harassed by people who believe Jones’ lies. Some have said they even received death threats.

During his opening statement, Jones’ lawyer, Norm Pattis, told jurors that his client was being scapegoated and treated as a “whipping boy.”

“The haters want him silenced,” Pattis said. “They hate him because he says outrageous things.”

Pattis accused the plaintiffs of “overstating the harm” that Jones caused them and politicizing the proceedings, adding that the damages claims are exaggerated.

Aldenberg was the first witness to take the stand. The FBI agent was one of the first law enforcement officers to enter the classrooms where first graders were killed. He cried as he described what he saw and heard on the day of the shooting.

Mattei asked him if he saw any actors or anything fake at Sandy Hook that day, and Aldenberg struggled to compose himself as he replied: “No. It’s awful. It’s awful. It’s awful.”

Aldenberg testified and said that what he found to be most distressing is that “people want to say this didn’t happen,” “to make profits” off of lies and “destroy people’s lives.”

The FBI agent said he felt “powerless” against Alex Jones and his Infowars brand.

Pattis added, “Mr. Jones’ conspiracy theory may by offensive to some, and ridiculous to others, but he has not gained millions of listeners by compelling people to tune in. He speaks a language that many Americans seem prepared to accept.”

Mattei has showed the jury evidence that Jones’ viewership and sales of products including dietary supplements and merchandise on his website soared during the times in which he discussed the Sandy Hook shooting. Mattei was implying that Jones was profiting off the shooting.

Pattis countered that the jury should be allowed to hear that Jones believes there is a conspiracy to take guns away and enslave people.

“They have put before this jury the theory that Jones merchandizes fear for the sake of making a buck,” Pattis said. “Our claim is that he recognizes the fear of the people and makes a dollar to support that premise.”