Reprinted with permission from DailyKos
Earlier this year, conspiracy purveyor Alex Jones had a setback when the Texas Supreme Court rejected his attempt to have four defamation lawsuits against him tossed. The lawsuits came from parents of children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012. The families filed suit after years of harassment, including death threats that spurred on, in no small part, by Jones and his Infowars show's continued false claims that the mass murder of children was a "hoax," and parents seen on television were "crisis actors."
These lawsuits have been going on for years, with Jones playing some seriously vile legal games at the expense of the families who have suffered the greatest tragedy a family can suffer. Last week, Travis County Judge Maya Guerra Gamble put an end to some of the obstructionist games being played by Jones' legal team, granting a default judgment against Jones in the cases of Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, parents of 6-year-old Sandy Hook victim Noah Pozner; and Scarlett Lewis, whose 6-year-old son Jesse was slain that same day.
On Tuesday, Gamble added a third default judgment to Jones' legal losses list. Neil Heslin's lawsuit joins the other two and will be heard by a jury that will be deciding what damages Jones actually owes these families.
Heslin, who is also a parent of Jesse Lewis, had filed two separate lawsuits against Jones that hadn't been included in the previous decision. Gamble wrote, "In reaching this decision, this court has considered lesser remedies ... and determined they would be inadequate in light of the history of (Jones') conduct in this court." Gamble went on to say that while Jones has been given the chance to not be a complete asshole, "An escalating series of judicial admonishments, monetary penalties, and non-dispositive sanctions have all been ineffective at deterring the abuse." And these cases are just some of the cases Jones is facing for this exact level of public deception and cruelty.
The defamation cases in Texas are separate from two defamation lawsuits filed against Jones and Infowars in Connecticut Superior Court by eight families who lost loved ones in the Sandy Hook massacre and an FBI agent, where the Judge Barbara Bellis has also threatened default against Jones if he doesn't comply with discovery orders.
One of the attorneys representing the families, Bill Ogden, told reporters: "Alex Jones and Infowars no longer have the ability to make excuses or defend their actions. My clients can finally say 'What you did was wrong. You defamed me. You intentionally inflicted emotional distress on me, and for that, you will be held accountable.'"
The Washington Post reports that in her decision, Gamble wrote, "The Court finds that Defendants' discovery conduct in this case is the result of flagrant bad faith and callous disregard for the responsibilities of discovery under the rules."
In another filing, the families suing Jones asked that a more stringent protective order be put in place on Jones for the next steps in the discovery process, as "the plaintiffs' great concern, there is no real assurance that the Jones defendants will abide by the terms of the existing protective order, especially if they determine that breaching the protective order will serve them in the press or as a litigation tactic." The families are asking for the judge to allow them to hold off handing over personal emails and the like to Jones' attorneys until the judge has handed down a sanctions order for the violations Jones has already participated in. According to Courthouse News, the sanctions hearing is set for Oct. 20. Jones was previously sanctioned by Judge Barbara Bellis in Connecticut for insinuating that child pornography found on his computer was planted by the attorneys for the plaintiff.
Jones has tried to walk back his years of conspiracy theory assertions, saying that he's just entertaining, that his statements were "a form of psychosis" that comes from him just blathering away and frothing himself into a frenzy; and he no longer believes Sandy Hook was a "massive hoax." Coincidentally, much of his "entertainment" seems to involve terrorizing mothers and their children.
Besides the other Sandy Hook defamation lawsuits he faces, Jones is reportedly under investigation for his ties to Roger Stone and the Jan. 6 insurgency by the U.S. Justice Department. Maybe Ancient Aliens can get him out of this?
