Describing his behavior as “indefensible,” “unconscionable” and “possibly criminal,” a Connecticut judge sanctioned and chastised right-wing conspiracy theorist and talk radio/television host Alex Jones on Tuesday for his behavior surrounding a lawsuit brought by families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School victims.
Bridgeport Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis sanctioned Jones by denying his attorneys a chance to pursue special motions to dismiss in the case.
The lawsuit was brought in response to Jones’ claims that that the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012 was a false flag — a claim that Jones has since backed down from, acknowledging that the killings really did occur.
In a broadcast on Friday, Jones railed against the attorneys representing the Sandy Hook families and implied that they tried to frame him by planting child pornography in e-mails that his legal team turned over to the plaintiffs as part of the discovery process (in court cases, the term “discovery” refers to the requirement that opposing attorneys share evidence). But Jones, who hosts “The Alex Jones Show” and publishes the high-traffic InfoWars website, has backed down from that claim as well.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit, in a filing on Monday, said they notified the FBI right away after finding “numerous images of child pornography” in documents that Jones’ legal team gave them. The plaintiffs said the illegal images “had apparently been sent to InfoWars e-mail addresses.” But it appeared that neither Jones nor anyone on his legal team were aware of the images or had requested them when they gave the discovery-related documents to the plaintiffs’ attorneys.
In an InfoWars’ broadcast this week, Norman Pattis (an attorney representing Jones), noted, “I spoke to federal prosecutors last week. They report that there is no indication anyone at InfoWars knowingly possessed child pornography.” In addition, Pattis said the e-mails containing the illegal images were “very hostile” to Jones.
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