As a civil trial begins Tuesday in Texas to determine how much Alex Jones owes in defamation damages to the parents of victims in the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School after he falsely claimed the massacre was a “giant hoax,” unspecified medical problems could prevent the right-wing conspiracy theorist from being in the courthouse, according to his attorney.

During jury selection on Monday, Jones’s attorney, F. Andino Reynal, told the Austin courtroom that the founder of Infowars “has medical issues” that could keep him from showing up during parts of the trial, even though he “has no obligation to be here.”

“Alex, you may have noticed, is not here, like the plaintiffs,” said Reynal, according to the News-Times in Danbury, Conn. “He may not be here through parts of the trial.”....

While Reynal did not specify what “medical issues” could prevent the 48-year-old from attending the trial in person, Jones, who has already lost several defamation lawsuits related to his Sandy Hook falsehoods, has previously blamed stress and cardiovascular effects from his coronavirus infection for missing depositions in the Connecticut trial last year. Jones has also faced daily fines of $25,000 from a Connecticut judge for failing to show up for court-ordered depositions in March.