Sandy Hook Parents Sue Conspiracy Theorist Alex Jones for Defamation
AUSTIN, TEXAS (REUTERS) - The parents of two children killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre have sued conspiracy theorist Alex Jones for defamation, accusing him and his website InfoWars of engaging in a campaign of "false, cruel, and dangerous assertions."
The two lawsuits filed on Monday in Travis County, Texas, where Jones resides, are likely the first defamation cases concerning Sandy Hook brought against Jones, who has called the shooting a hoax, said Mark Bankston, a Houston-based lawyer for the parents.
The parents decided to sue more than five years after the attacks because they had concluded Jones has no intention of leaving them alone, Bankston said.
Tags
Who is online
456 visitors
"He needs to held accountable," Bankston said in a phone interview. "The strategy of ignoring him didn't work, He didn't go away."
Jones and a lawyer for him named in the lawsuits did not respond to requests to comment. Jones' InfoWars media site and affiliated Free Speech Systems were also named as defendants.
A gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012, in an attack that ranks among the five deadliest mass shootings by a single gunman in U.S. history.
InfoWars founder Jones has questioned what he calls the "official story" of Sandy Hook and suggested a political cover-up took place. Although his theory has been discredited, people who believe Jones have harassed and taunted families of the victims.
The suits filed by Leonard Pozner, Veronique De La Rosa and Neil Heslin seek at least $1 million in damages. Each claims Jones repeatedly asserted the Sandy Hook shooting was staged and the parents were liars and frauds who helped in a cover-up.
"Defendants' defamatory statements were knowingly false or made with reckless disregard for the truth," one lawsuit said.
In March, Jones was named as one of several defendants in a lawsuit filed by a Virginia man who claimed he was defamed by false stories in which he was accused of helping stage unrest last summer in Charlottesville, Virginia, as part of an effort to undermine U.S. President Donald Trump.
Unless Jones specifically mentioned the people suing by name and personally slandered them this case won't go anywhere. We still have freedom of speech, even for creeps like Jones.
Freedom of speech does not protect you from the liability of accusing or harming others with your speech. He is not being sued by the state, so his freedom of speech is not involved.
Freedom of speech applies even if being sued by a private citizen. Just ask Judas Priest or Ozzy Osbourne. They got hauled into court over their song lyrics. So unless Jones specifically called out private individuals and made slanderous comments about them there is no case.
Song lyrics cases have to do with copyright infringement, not freedom of speech. My sister in law is an intellectual properties lawyer for sony/bmg/rca. They sue people all the time for what is essentially theft.
Freedom of speech does not allow slander or libel. Alex Jones slandered those families when he claimed they were apparently in on some hoax or intentionally allowed their children to be gunned down for political purposes. The claims are outrageous but unless he intends to claim it was a joke and thus invoke a parody defense these parents have a decent civil case against him. I don't think it would be that hard for them to credibly argue pain and suffering from his hurtful false allegations, but proving some monetary damages would likely be difficult.
These are civil suits and not criminal.
Judas Priest and Ozzy were sued by parents of teens who killed them while listening to their music and claimed that there was a subliminal message that was not protected free speech. I never liked Ozzy but there were a few Priest songs that I liked. Glenn Tipton in black leather pants was attractive eye candy.
If Jones is liable for offensive conspiracy theories then that also means all 9/11 truthers are as well. I'm sure there are lots of family members who lost loved ones that are equally offended by talk of inside jobs and stories of certain groups being told to stay home that day.
"Heslin's lawsuit notes the case "arises out of accusation by InfoWars in the summer of 2017 that Plaintiff was lying about whether he actually held his son's body and observed a bullet hole in his head. This heartless and vile act of defamation re-ignited the Sandy Hook 'false flag' conspiracy and tore open the emotional wounds that Plaintiff has tried so desperately to heal."
I think there's quite a bit of daylight between some nut jobs saying they think the government was behind 9/11 and a specific shock jock claiming one of the parents of a Sandy Hook victim is a liar who lied about seeing his dead son and the bullet in his sons body. Not sure why you're trying to defend the kind of worthless idiot who would claim a grieving parent is a liar.
Truthers are not saying that 9/11 didn't happen. Truthers are questioning the story of who is to blame for the attacks.
Alex Jones is saying that the massacre at Sandy Hook didn't happen and that the victims are still alive somewhere.
I hope they take every penny he has!
Leave him a quarter for the Court House parking meter.
No.
I want his car to be towed.
Lock him up.
Take this delusional piece of shit for all he's worth.
One of the plaintiffs is Leonard Pozner who helped get James Tracy fired from his tenured professorship at Florida Atlantic University. Along with other good conduct violations, Tracy refused to comply with the university's orders to stop using their equipment and university title when he was attacking the parents of a dead kid. He also refused to file mandatory disclosure forms that require all professors to reveal outside work and activities that could affect their work or the university.
Tracy is one of the right-wing "sandy hook truther" morons whom Alex Jones featured on his show. These are seriously dimwitted people as are the nuts who listen to Jones.
Unless I'm mistaken, is not DJT also a believer and admirer of Jones?
Jones, Hannity and Breitbart are where all dumbfuks get their "facts".
You are not mistaken. Trump's idiotic remarks start at the 13:35 mark.
What makes Alex Jones so despicable is the fact that even he doesn't believe his own conspiracy theories. When sued in an earlier case, he stated that he was nothing more than an entertainer and as an entertainer could make up outrageous comments for his audience's entertainment. He is a media whore who has no consideration for who he hurts. To go after the parents of Sandy Hook and the very thought that the tragedy they endured was anything but real is the sign that the man has not one shred of human decency. I would hope that justice is done and the man is left with nothing but the clothes on his back and a sign that he can make that says " the whole world has conspired against me---I am the only one who knows the truth----Give me your money"
Jones is a nut, but suing him seems pointless. He actually believes the things he says and he has reasons - however thin - for saying them. At worst, you might be able to prove he's mistaken about something, but not that he's lying.
And then what are the damages? That he hurt somebody's feelings?
I hope these parents win. It warms my heart to think this could be precedence setting for more to come against slime balls like this guy. It's simply deplorable ........
I don't know. But for me, personally, I do not believe that 'lie speech' is free speech. One can lie all they want. But if there is personal or public consequence for that lie.....then the consequence belongs to the holder of that deliberate untruth.
Just my opinion.
As far as Jones? Paranoid Putz?