Infowars’ Alex Jones loses by default in Sandy Hook defamation suits
A Texas judge has found Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones liable for damages in three defamation lawsuits brought by the parents of two children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre over his claims that the shooting was a hoax.
Judge Maya Guerra Gamble in Austin, home of Infowars, entered default judgments against Jones,
Infowars and other defendants for what she called their “flagrant bad faith and callous disregard” of court orders to turn over documents to the parents’ lawyers.
The rulings were issued on Monday and released on Thursday.
The cases now head to trial for juries to determine the amount of damages Jones and the other defendants will have to pay the families.
The shooting at the
Newtown, Connecticut, school on Dec. 14, 2012, killed 20 first-graders and six educators. The gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, fatally shot his mother at their Newtown home before going to the school, and killed himself as police arrived.
The shooting was portrayed on Jones’ Infowars show as a hoax involving actors aimed at increasing gun control. Jones has since acknowledged the school shooting did occur.
Families of some of the school shooting victims sued Jones, Infowars and others in courts in Texas and Connecticut over the hoax conspiracy, saying they have been subjected to harassment and death threats from Jones’ followers. The Connecticut cases remain pending.
Jones and his attorney in Connecticut, Norman Pattis, criticized the Texas judge’s ruling in a statement on the Infowars website.
“We are distressed by what we regard as a blatant abuse of discretion by the trial court,” they said. “We are determined to see that these cases are heard on the merits.”
Jones’ lawyers have denied the defamations allegations and argued his comments about the school shooting were protected by free speech rights.
Bill Ogden, a Houston lawyer representing the four parents in the Texas cases, said Jones and Infowars have failed to turn over documents for the past few years. He added such default judgments are rare.
Guerra Gamble said in her rulings that she was defaulting Jones and the other defendants after admonishments by judges, monetary fines and other actions failed to get the defendants to turn over documents.