A Connecticut judge, exasperated by the Infowars broadcaster Alex Jones’s “bad faith” failure to sit for a deposition in a lawsuit brought by the families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, ruled on Wednesday that he would be subject to escalating daily fines for future delays.
The judge, Barbara Bellis of Connecticut Superior Court, found Mr. Jones in contempt and ordered that he be fined $25,000 for the first weekday he fails to appear for testimony, beginning on Friday. For every day thereafter that he does not appear, the daily fine will increase by $25,000. She also ordered that he be deposed in Connecticut, rather than in his home of Austin, Texas.
If Mr. Jones fails to testify by April 15, Judge Bellis will impose further sanctions, potentially revoking his ability to call witnesses or present evidence in the trial. The judge rejected a motion by the families’ lawyers that Mr. Jones be jailed until he testifies.
Mr. Jones for years spread bogus claims that the Dec. 14, 2012, shooting of 20 first graders and six educators in Newtown, Conn., was staged by the federal government as a pretext for confiscating Americans’ firearms, and that the families were actors in the supposed plot. The falsehoods have led to years of torment and threats against the victims’ relatives.
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