Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was found liable Monday for damages in lawsuits brought by parents of children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting over Jones’ claims that the massacre was a hoax.
Judge Barbara Bellis took the rare step of defaulting Jones in the defamation lawsuits because of his and his companies’ “failure to produce critical material information that the plaintiffs needed to prove their claims.” The default means that the judge found in favor of the parents and will hold a hearing on how much damages Jones should pay.
Lawyers for the parents claimed that Jones and his companies, including Infowars and Free Speech Systems, violated court rules by failing to turn over documents to them, including internal company documents showing how, and if, Jones and Infowars profited from talking about the school shooting and other mass shootings.
A message seeking comment was sent to Jones’ lawyers. They have denied violating court rules on document disclosure and have asked that Bellis be removed from the case, alleging that she has not been impartial.
Shortly after the judge’s decision, Jones went on air on his show deriding the legal process surrounding the case.
“These individuals, again, are not allowing me to have a jury trial because they know the things they said I supposedly did didn’t happen,” he said. “They know they don’t have a case for damages. And so the judge is saying you are guilty of damages; now a jury decides how...
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