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Court upholds $75,000 in fines against Alex Jones for missing Sandy Hook
case deposition
Hartford, Conn. – A Connecticut appeals court on Friday upheld $75,000 in
fines against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones for missing a deposition in
the lawsuit by Sandy Hook families, which led to a $1.4 billion judgment against Jones for repeatedly calling the 2012 Newtown school shooting a
hoax.
The state Appellate Court said that while Jones claimed an illness and
doctor's recommendations prevented him from attending the questioning in
his hometown of Austin, Texas, in March 2022, he continued live broadcasts
of his Infowars show at the same time. Jones later did appear for a
deposition early the next month in Connecticut and was refunded the
$75,000 in fines he paid.
Infowars founder Alex Jones appears in court to testify during the Sandy
Hook defamation damages trial at Connecticut Superior Court in Waterbury, Conn., on Sept. 22, 2022.
"We agree with the trial court that the undisputed fact that the defendant chose to host a live radio broadcast from his studio … significantly
undercuts his claim that he was too ill to attend the deposition," Judge
Jose Suarez wrote in the 3-0 ruling. "We conclude that the court
reasonably inferred … that the defendant's failure to attend his
deposition … was willful."
Jones has said he could not sit for the questioning because of a medical problem that included vertigo. He said his doctors first thought it was a serious heart issue, but it later turned out to be a sinus infection.
Jones' lawyer, Norm Pattis, did not immediately return text and email
messages Friday. It was not clear if he planned to appeal Friday's
decision to the Connecticut Supreme Court.
Pattis had argued in his appeal brief that trial court Judge Barbara
Bellis' contempt finding against Jones and the fine were "manifestly
unjust" because she disregarded sworn statements from Jones' doctors that
he was too ill to attend the deposition.
Pattis said that although the $75,000 in fines were small compared with
the $1.4 billion judgment, "the principal and point he seeks to make here
is significant." He also criticized Bellis for faulting Jones for not
providing more information on his medical condition, "effectively
asserting that when it comes to civil justice, a Court's need to manage
its docket trumps medical confidentiality and advice."
A lawyer for the Sandy Hook families, Alinor Sterling, said Jones'
criticism of the fines and the judge was baseless.
"Jones flagrantly broke court orders – he claimed he was too sick to
attend court proceedings when in fact he was broadcasting his show live –
and then he blamed the trial judge for doing her job and imposing consequences," Sterling said in a statement.
The Appellate Court's decision came a day after the 11th anniversary of a gunman's killing of 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook
Elementary School in Newtown.
Relatives of some of the victims sued Jones in Connecticut for defamation
and infliction of emotional distress for claiming the school shooting
never happened and was staged by "crisis actors" in a plot to increase gun control.
Eight victims' relatives and an FBI agent testified during a monthlong
trial in late 2022 about being threatened and harassed for years by people
who deny the shooting happened. Strangers showed up at some of their homes
and confronted some of them in public. People hurled abusive comments at
them on social media and in emails. Some received death and rape threats.
A jury awarded the families and the FBI agent, who responded to the
shooting, $965 million, and Bellis tacked on another $473 million in
punitive damages.
In a similar trial in Texas earlier in 2022, Jones was ordered to pay
nearly $50 million to the parents of another child killed in the Sandy
Hook shooting for calling the massacre a hoax. A third trial is pending in Texas in a similar lawsuit by two other parents.
Jones and his media company, Free Speech Systems, both filed for
bankruptcy reorganization, and how much he must pay the Sandy Hook
families will be decided by a bankruptcy court judge.
Jones is appealing the Connecticut and Texas judgments.
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Anyone that isn't confused doesn't really
understand the situation.
~Edward R. Murrow USA WWII Correspondent ==================================================
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