Alex Jones Loses 2 Sandy Hook Cases by Default
Jones falsely claimed the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre was staged by crisis actors who wanted to overturn the Second Amendment.
Texas Judge Maya Guerra Gamble last week issued default judgements against Infowars host Alex Jones in two cases brought by the parents of two Sandy Hook mass shooting victims.
Jones falsely claimed that the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre – in which 20 young students and six adults were killed by an active shooter – was staged by crisis actors who wanted to overturn the Second Amendment. Only later did Jones say he believed the mass shooting was real.
Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa – the parents of 6-year-old Noel Pozner – and Scarlett Lewis – the mother of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis – sued Jones for defamation. They claimed Jones’ comments on his show prompted his followers to harass them.
However, Jones’ lawyer claimed the talk show host’s speech was “rhetorical hyperbole.”
The judge issued the default judgements against Jones and Infowars after Jones routinely failed to reply to requests to produce documents related to his conspiracy theories about the massacre, reports the Huffington Post. The judgement means that Jones and Infowars are liable for the plaintiffs’ damages.
A jury will now decide how much Jones and Infowars will need to pay Pozner, De La Rosa and Lewis.
Two years ago Jones was ordered to pay $100,000 to Neil Heslin, the father of Jesse, reports NBC News. The judge in that case ruled Jones and his defense lawyer intentionally disregarded an order to provide witnesses to Heslin’s lawyers.
Also two years ago, another Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist, James Fetzer, was ordered to pay Pozner $450,000 for falsely claiming Pozner had circulated fabricated copies of his son’s death certificate.
Like Jones, Fetzer claimed the tragedy was staged by FEMA as part of the Obama administration’s efforts to implement gun control.
A psychiatrist testified in Fetzer’s trial that Pozner suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) due to the murder of his son. The expert witness also said that Pozner would have healed long ago had it not been for Fetzer’s defamation, as well as the repeated harassment by Sandy Hook conspiracy theorists.
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About the Author
Robin Hattersley, Editor-in-Chief
Robin has been covering the security and campus law enforcement industries since 1998 and is a specialist in school, university and hospital security, public safety and emergency management, as well as emerging technologies and systems integration. She joined CS in 2005 and has authored award-winning editorial on campus law enforcement and security funding, officer recruitment and retention, access control, IP video, network integration, event management, crime trends, the Clery Act, Title IX compliance, sexual assault, dating abuse, emergency communications, incident management software and more. Robin has been featured on national and local media outlets and was formerly associate editor for the trade publication Security Sales & Integration. She obtained her undergraduate degree in history from California State University, Long Beach.
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