Judge denies Sandy Hook denier’s lawsuit request

NEWTOWN — A Connecticut judge has rejected a request by a Sandy Hook denier from Wisconsin who wanted to intervene in the wrongful death lawsuit brought by nine Newtown families against the defunct gunmaker Remington.

The Wisconsin man, who in a separate case was ordered to pay $450,000 to the father of a boy slain in the 2012 Sandy Hook shootings for claiming the child’s death certificate “was a fake,” was trying to intervene in Connecticut to bolster his appeal in Wisconsin, he said in court papers.

On Wednesday state Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis denied his request.

“The interests alleged by the proposed intervenor are insufficient to allow him to be brought in as a party,” Bellis wrote.

Bellis’ decision marked a rare occasion in the families’ high-profile lawsuit against the bankrupted Remington where both sides shared a victory at the same time.

Attorneys for both the Newtown families and Remington objected to the request by the Wisconsin man, saying it could only distract from the merits and defense of the lawsuit and “fuel baseless conspiracy theories.”

The Wisconsin man, James Fetzer, co-edited a 2015 book called “Nobody Died at Sandy Hook: It was a FEMA Drill to Promote Gun Control.” Earlier this month, Fetzer wrote to Connecticut Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis that he had been “injured” when the Connecticut Supreme Court wrote that Adam Lanza was responsible for killing 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School, because that statement was cited by the Wisconsin appellate court “as authority for the conclusion that people died at Sandy Hook,” Fetzer wrote.

On Wednesday, Bellis ruled that Fetzer had no standing in her court.

“[T]he motion to intervene of James Fetzer is denied, and the court will not rule on the motions he has filed regarding legal counsel and extensions of time as the motions are moot in light of this ruling,” Bellis wrote.

The Wisconsin case stems from a defamation lawsuit against Fetzer filed by Lenny Pozner, whose son was among the victims of the 2012 shooting. A Wisconsin jury awarded Pozner $450,000 in late 2019. Fetzer was also ordered to pay $650,000 in court and legal fees.

Pozner and the boy’s mother are among the nine families suing Remington for unlawful marketing of the AR-15-style rifle used by Lanza.

Pozner, the founder of the nonprofit HONR Network, works to protect people from online abuse.

“I am gratified that the court has once again deemed Fetzer inconsequential,” Pozner said on Thursday.