Alex Jones, founding father of the Infowars radio and net broadcast, awaits jury deliberations which started Wednesday in Austin, TX following a two-week trial.
Scarlett Lewis, the mom of Jesse Lewis, a six-year-old slain on Dec 14, 2012, within the Sandy Hook Elementary capturing, has introduced the defamation case in opposition to Jones and his corporations Free Speech Programs, LLC and InfoWars, LLC, in keeping with Reuters.
The case
Three lawsuits have been filed in opposition to Jones and his corporations in 2018, some claiming they’ve suffered “a extreme diploma of psychological stress and anguish” as a result of false narratives unfold by Jones and his media firm alleging the Sandy Hook capturing was a hoax, in keeping with one of many unique petitions.
The circumstances took a shocking flip when the choose granted motions for default judgment, an exceedingly uncommon ruling, stating Jone’s crew “have proven a deliberate, contumacious, and unwarranted disregard for (the) Court docket’s authority.”
As a result of Jones didn’t cooperate with the courtroom authorities, the choose has dominated him and his media corporations legally responsible for some quantity of the damages precipitated to the households. Within the case of Scarlett Lewis, the jury is within the strategy of deciding how a lot she is owed.
Extra defamation circumstances in opposition to Jones
In Texas, two extra fits have been filed:
- Niel Heslin, the daddy of Jesse Lewis, filed a swimsuit with the identical default judgment.
- Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, mother and father of Noah Pozner, 6, filed one other swimsuit with the identical attorneys at Farrah & Ball.
In Connecticut, one other case in opposition to Jones was halted as he declared his firm Free Speech Programs, LLC bankrupt, in keeping with courtroom paperwork. This trial was additionally dominated a default judgment, and a jury choice was underway to find out the damages owed earlier than it was suspended pending a chapter ruling.
Marcel Fontaine was in the midst of a authorized battle with Jones, looking for damages for the media firm’s false reporting that he was a suspect within the Douglas Excessive Faculty bloodbath. After his picture was disseminated throughout the web, he was allegedly harassed and threatened, per courtroom paperwork.
Fontaine died in an residence fireplace on Could 19, 2022, together with three others, nonetheless, the lawsuit is constant on behalf of his property. The reason for the hearth continues to be below investigation in keeping with NBC.
Years of harassment
Pozner commonly acquired loss of life threats, as conspiracy theorists believed he was an actor in a hoax. Lucy Richards, 57, was sentenced to 5 months in jail for harassing Pozner after listening to Infowars in keeping with The Washington Submit.
Wolfgang Halbig, a former contributor to Infowars, harassed the households of the victims of the Sandy Hook capturing. The New York Instances studies that “he repeatedly emailed Mr. Pozner’s Social Safety quantity, date of start and different data to a protracted checklist of recipients,” and was arrested for “illegal possession of private identification.”
The harassment and loss of life threats pressured the Pozner household to maneuver seven instances. They presently stay in hiding, per The New York Instances.
What to observe
In response to a court video, Jones has continued to decry the trial on his net present, although a choose had ordered him to chorus from remark till the proceedings had completed.
That is the primary of three circumstances figuring out the damages owed to households of the victims of the Sandy Hook capturing, the place 20 kids and 6 workers have been killed. In response to the Texas Tribune, a big safety workers has been referred to as in to guard Lewis and Heslin, resulting from what their lawyer referred to as “some encounters right here within the metropolis of Austin.”
