It was a major victory today for families who sued Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist who lied about the murders of first graders and their teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary by saying it was all staged, was found guilty of defamation by default.
The New York Times writes:
Mr. Jones for years spread bogus theories that the shooting that killed 20 first graders and six educators was a government-led plot to confiscate Americans’ firearms and that the victims’ families were “actors” in the scheme.
The Sandy Hook families maintain that Mr. Jones profited from spreading lies about their relatives’ murders. Mr. Jones has disputed that, while for years failing to produce sufficient records to bolster his claims.
CNN writes:
Connecticut Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis cited the defendants’ “willful noncompliance” with the discovery process as her core reasoning behind the ruling. She specifically noted that they had not turned over financial and analytics data requested multiple times by the Sandy Hook family plaintiffs.”All the defendants have failed to fully and fairly comply with their discovery obligations,” Bellis said at the virtual hearing.
“While today’s ruling is a legal victory, the battle to shed light on how deeply Mr. Jones has harmed these families continues.”
Chris Mattei, Attorney Representing The Plaintiffs