WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday rejected an attraction from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and left in place the $1.4 billion judgment in opposition to him over his description of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty taking pictures as a hoax staged by disaster actors.
The Infowars host had argued {that a} choose was improper to seek out him accountable for defamation and infliction of emotional misery with out holding a trial on the deserves of allegations lodged by kin of victims of the taking pictures, which killed 20 first graders and 6 educators in Newtown, Connecticut.
The justices didn’t touch upon their order, which they issued with out even asking the households of the Sandy Hook victims to answer Jones’ attraction. An FBI agent who responded to the taking pictures additionally sued.
A lawyer who represents Sandy Hook households mentioned the Supreme Courtroom had correctly rejected Jones’ “latest desperate attempt to avoid accountability for the harm he has caused.”
“We look forward to enforcing the jury’s historic verdict and making Jones and Infowars pay for what they have done,” lawyer Christopher Mattei mentioned in a press release.
A lawyer representing Jones within the case didn’t instantly reply to an electronic mail looking for remark. Throughout his every day present on Tuesday, Jones mentioned his attorneys believed his case was “cut and dry,” whereas he had predicted the excessive court docket wouldn’t take up his attraction.
“I said no, they will not do it because of politics,” Jones mentioned.
Jones mocked the concept he has sufficient cash to pay the judgement, saying his studio gear, together with five-year-old cameras, was solely value about $304,000.
“It’s all about torturing me. It’s all about harassing me. It’s about harassing my family. It’s about getting me off the air,” mentioned Jones, who urged his listeners to purchase merchandise to maintain present working.
Jones filed for chapter in late 2022, and his attorneys advised the justices that the “plaintiffs have no possible hope of collecting” all the judgment.
He’s individually interesting a $49 million judgment in the same defamation lawsuit in Texas after he failed to show over paperwork sought by the dad and mom of one other Sandy Hook sufferer.
Within the Connecticut case, the choose issued a uncommon default ruling in opposition to Jones and his firm in late 2021 due to what she referred to as Jones’ repeated failure to abide by court docket rulings and to show over sure proof to the Sandy Hook households. The choose convened a jury to find out how a lot Jones would owe.
The next 12 months, the jury agreed on a $964 million verdict and the choose later tacked on one other $473 million in punitive damages in opposition to Jones and Free Speech Methods, Infowars’ mother or father firm, which is predicated in Austin, Texas.
In November, the satirical information outlet The Onion was named the successful bidder in an public sale to liquidate Infowars’ property to assist pay the defamation judgments. However the chapter choose threw out the public sale outcomes, citing issues with the method and The Onion’s bid.
The try to dump Infowars’ property has moved to a Texas state court docket in Austin. Jones is now interesting a latest order from the court docket that appointed a receiver to liquidate the property. A few of Jones’ private property can be being offered off as a part of the chapter case.
Related Press author Susan Haigh in Hartford, Conn., contributed to this report.
