The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Judge: Families can depose Alex Jones
BRIDGEPORT — A Bridgeport judge on Wednesday afternoon ruled Infowars host Alex Jones has to submit to a sworn deposition in a defamation case brought against him by several family members of Sandy Hook shooting victims.
Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis also ruled Wednesday that the families can depose several other defendants in the case, including those critical to business operations at Infowars.
“From the beginning, we have said that
Jones knowingly peddled false and malicious narratives in order to make money at the expense of the Sandy Hook families’ grief, safety and security,” said Josh Koskoff, one of the attorneys representing the families, in a prepared statement. “Today’s ruling moves us one step closer to proving this.”
The ruling follows a decision that Jones has to turn over internal financial, business and marketing documents for Infowars. In late January, the Connecticut Supreme Court denied Jones’ appeal on that decision.
Jones’ attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.
The local case against Jones alleges years of abusive and false statements that he and the other defendants developed and perpetuated claims that the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012, that claimed the lives of 20 children and six educators, were carried out by paid actors who faked the deaths.
The complaint alleges that Jones subjects the families and survivors of the Sandy Hook mass shooting to confrontations, harassment, deaths threats and attacks on social media.
Mark Barden, whose son Daniel was one of the 20 first-graders killed in the shooting, said Jones should have to answer for his actions.
“It is far beyond time that he be held accountable for the pain his false narratives have caused so many and today’s ruling brings us one step closer to doing that,” Barden said in a prepared statement.
The plaintiffs in the case are several parents and family members of victims killed in the shooting. William Aldenberg, an FBI agent and first responder to the scene, also is a plaintiff.