Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist must pay damages

THE father of a boy killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting has been awarded close to half a million dollars in a defamation suit against conspiracy theorists who said it never happened.

Leonard Pozner, whose six-year-old son Noah was killed during one of the most shocking school massacres in US history, sued James Fetzer and Mike Palacek over their book Nobody Died at Sandy Hook, in which they claimed he had faked his son’s death certificate.

In the book, the pair claimed the shooting was a hoax staged by Barack Obama’s administration as a means to enact tighter gun restrictions.

Mr Palacek reached an undisclosed settlement with Mr Pozner last month but the defamation case against Mr Fetzer proceeded. This week, a jury ruled he must pay Mr Pozner $450,000 (£350,000) in damages.

Mr Fetzer, a retired University of Minnesota Duluth professor, called the figure “absurd” and said he would appeal. He had argued that the statements in his book were “true” and insisted there was no proof it was the inspiration

‘[Thanks] for recognising the pain and terror that Mr Fetzer has ... inflicted on me and on other victims’

for Mr Pozner’s harassers. During the defamation trial, Mr Pozner described how he has spent years being plagued by conspiracy theorists who have harassed him, subjected him to death threats and claimed that he was an actor, and his son never existed.

He said that Mr Fetzer’s writing caused him to fear for his and his surviving children’s safety. One of his two daughters is Noah’s twin sister.

Mr Pozner thanked the jury “for recognising the pain and terror that Mr Fetzer has purposefully inflicted on me and on other victims of these horrific mass casualty events”.

He added: “Mr Fetzer has the right to believe that Sandy Hook never happened. He has the right to express his ignorance. This award, however, further illustrates the difference between the right of people like Mr Fetzer to be wrong and the right of victims like myself and my child to be free from defamation [and] harassment and free from the intentional infliction of terror.”

Several relatives of the 20 children and six adults killed at Sandy Hook in Connecticut have been forced to battle harassment and ridiculous assertions for years.