Sandy Hook Families Reject Alex Jones’ Settlement Offer
The Infowars host offered $120,000 per plaintiff in the defamation lawsuit brought by relatives of the victims.
Sandy Hook families quickly rejected a settlement offer from Infowars host Alex Jones for spreading conspiracy theories on his show that the 2012 massacre was faked. In November, a Connecticut judge found Jones liable by default. He now faces a trial to determine how much he must pay the thirteen families who filed the defamation suit.
The families said that they endured harassment and death threats as a result of Jones’ public assertions that the mass shooting, in which twenty children and six school staff members were murdered, had been an elaborate hoax orchestrated by gun control activists.
Jones failed to turn over documents which the plaintiffs argued they needed in order to show that he and his companies profited from his lies. A Connecticut judge agreed, finding Jones liable by default for “failure to produce critical material information that the plaintiffs needed to prove their claims.”
In three similar defamation lawsuits taking place in Jones’ home state of Texas, he was again found liable by default for failing to hand over documents. He also faces trial there to determine how much he owes in those cases.
In 2019, Jones admitted under oath during testimony for one of the lawsuits that he knew the mass shooting did, in fact, occur.
The Associated Press reported that court filings posted online read, “Mr. Jones extends his heartfelt apology for any distress his remarks caused.”
In these court filings, the plaintiffs’ replies state: “The so-called offer is a transparent and desperate attempt by Alex Jones to escape a public reckoning under oath with his deceitful, profit-driven campaign against the plaintiffs and the memory of their loved ones lost at Sandy Hook.”
Last week, Connecticut Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis ordered Jones to appear in court for a deposition hearing in the case. Jones failed to show, citing poor health. In denying his earlier request to delay the deposition, Judge Bellis called Jones’ bluff, saying that if Jones was well enough to continue to broadcast his show from home, then he was well enough to appear in court.
