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Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been found liable for damages in three lawsuits brought by the parents of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting in connection with his false claims that the 2012 massacre was a hoax.
Texas judge Maya Guerra Gamble has issued default judgments against Jones and her InfoWars outlet after failing to produce documents to the parents’ attorneys. A jury will determine the amount of damages Jones owes the plaintiffs.
The decisions, in a defamation lawsuit brought by Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, parents of 6-year-old Noah, and two lawsuits brought by Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, including son Jesse, 6, was also murdered. , were published Monday and published Thursday.
The parents sued Jones and InfoWars over the host’s claims that the Connecticut school shooting that killed 26 people, including 20 children, was a hoax and that the grieving parents were crisis actors.
Several other families have also sued Jones, claiming they were targeted by his fans who harassed them about the tragedy.
In 2017, an InfoWars follower pleaded guilty to threatening to kill Pozner, who was wearing a disguise for a TV interview earlier this year in order to protect his safety.
Guerra Gamble in her rulings said she was in default of Jones because “a growing series of legal warnings, monetary penalties and non-dispositive penalties have all been ineffective in deterring abuse,” after Jones did He has not complied with court orders to hand over documents to cases for years.
Jones has lost several legal battles related to the lawsuits and has already been ordered to pay six figures in legal costs for failing to provide documents relating to the cases.
In a 2019 deposition, Jones admitted that the Newtown attack had occurred and blamed “psychosis” for saying otherwise.
“Basically I thought it was all staged, although now I often learn that things are not staged,” he said.
Radio host and InfoWars lawyer Norm Pattis said the decision was “astonishing” and a “flagrant abuse of discretion,” in a statement.
Default judgments, known as “death penalty sanctions,” are extremely rare in Texas, the law firm that represents Pozner, De La Rosa, Heslin and Lewis told The Huffington Post.
“We are learning that death penalty sanctions in law schools are more of a theory, and it is almost unheard of in a case like this,” said lawyer Bill Ogden to the media.
“However, Sandy Hook cases are unique. It is extremely rare for a party to be ordered by the Court to comply with the discovery, sanctioned for failing to obey multiple court orders, and then continue to blatantly disregard the authority of the Court by refusing continually to comply.
With post wires
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