Alex Jones to face latest Sandy Hook defamation case in Connecticut criminal court – National
A federal chapter decide on Monday cleared the best way for a defamation lawsuit in Connecticut to proceed towards Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
The case was filed by family of some victims of the 2012 bloodbath at Sandy Hook Elementary College in Newtown, Connecticut. Jones has falsely claimed that the nation’s deadliest college capturing — which killed 20 college students and 6 educators — was a hoax.
Jones’ lawyer had sought to switch the case to a federal chapter court docket, slightly than proceed the case in Connecticut state court docket. That transfer introduced the primary day of jury choice to a sudden halt earlier this month.
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Nonetheless, Monday’s ruling by Decide Julie Manning primarily permits the plaintiffs to proceed the defamation lawsuit towards simply Jones as a person, with out Free Speech Techniques, an organization owned by Jones and a defendant within the Connecticut case.
“The plaintiffs’ rights to have that course of proceed within the Connecticut Superior Courtroom shouldn’t be disturbed,” Manning wrote within the choice, including that the plaintiffs’ claims for damages had been prepared for trial.
A message was left in search of remark with Jones’ lawyer, Norm Pattis.
Chris Mattei, an lawyer for the plaintiffs, praised the chapter decide’s choice. “We’re grateful the chapter court docket noticed by means of Alex Jones’s brazen effort to dam a jury from being empaneled and holding him accountable. We stay up for trial,” he mentioned in a written assertion.
Free Speech Techniques filed for chapter in Texas a couple of week earlier than Jones’ lawyer sought to have the Connecticut case transferred.
A Texas jury this month ordered Jones to pay $45.2 million in punitive damages to the mother and father of one of many kids killed at Sandy Hook, along with one other $4.1 million he should pay for the struggling he put them by means of by claiming for years that the capturing was a hoax.
Jones’ attorneys plan to enchantment and attempt to decrease the quantity. In the meantime, moreover the case in Connecticut, a trial for damages is pending in Texas that was filed by the mother and father of one other baby killed at Sandy Hook.
Earlier than the trial in Texas, Jones had already been discovered liable in a separate defamation lawsuit in Texas and one other in Connecticut by family of among the Sandy Hook victims.
The Connecticut jury will determine what, if any, damages Jones owes in that case, though state legislation might additionally restrict what he must pay.
The 2 remaining trials are anticipated to start subsequent month, after juries are chosen. Jury choice within the Connecticut case might resume this week, attorneys mentioned.
