Judge: Alex Jones defamed the parents of 2 slain Sandy Hook kids
NEWTOWN – The parents of two first-graders slain in the Sandy Hook shooting have won a defamation lawsuit in Texas against conspiracy extremist and Infowars host Alex Jones.
Scarlett Lewis, the mother of Jesse Lewis, and Lenny Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, the parents of Noah Pozner, will have their cases heard by a jury to determine damages.
“We believe the court hit this nail on the head when it considered Alex Jones’ and Infowars’ “bad faith approach to this litigation,” Mr. Jones’ “public threats,” and Jones’ “professed belief that these proceedings are show trials,” said one of the parents’ attorneys, Bill Odgen, in a prepared statement. “This day has been a long time coming, and we are not surprised by the court’s rulings.”
The parents, who each sued Jones for more than $1 million for claiming, among other things, that the 2012 slaying of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School was “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax” and “completely fake with actors,” had been battling with Jones in Travis County District Court for pretrial documents he had been ordered to turn over to them.
After warnings and sanctions, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble ruled on Monday that Jones was in default.
“The court finds that (Jones’) discovery conduct in this case is the result of flagrant bad faith and callous disregard for the responsibilities of discovery under the rules,” Gamble wrote in her order.
Two other defamation lawsuits filed by the father of Jesse Lewis, Neil Heslin, are pending in Gamble’s Texas court. Heslin has also asked the judge to find Jones in default of his obligations to turn over pretrial documents.
The parents’ attorney Odgen said the focus now shifts to “how much damage was caused.”
“Because (the parents) have now been granted relief, and Alex Jones and Infowars are now liable for their damages…each case will be presented to a Travis County, Texas jury to quantify the damages,” Odgen said. “My clients have and continue to endure (Jones’) 5-year campaign of repulsive lies.”
Jones and his attorney Norm Pattis disagreed, saying they are “determined to see that these cases are heard on the merits.”
“Nothing less than the fundamental right to speak freely is at stake in these cases,” Jones and Pattis said in a statement posted on the Infowars site. “It is not overstatement to say the First Amendment was crucified today.”
The defamation cases in Texas are separate from two defamation lawsuits filed against Jones in Connecticut Superior Court by eight families who lost loved ones in the Sandy Hook massacre and an FBI agent, where the Judge Barbara Bellis has also threatened default against Jones if he doesn’t comply with discovery orders.
In Texas, the judge ruled that Jones’ “persistent discovery abuses” were part of a pattern that was evident in the Connecticut lawsuits.
“[T]his court has also considered ( Jones’) general bad faith approach to litigation, Mr. Jones’ public threats, and Mr. Jones’ professed belief that these proceedings are “show trials,” Gamble ruled.