The Texas Supreme Court denied requests from alt-right, conspiracy theorist podcaster Alex Jones on Friday. Jones tried to get defamation cases against him thrown out. Many of the suits were filed by parents of the children slain at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012.
Jones said on his web-based program and website Infowars that Sandy Hook never happened — that 20 children and six adults were not gunned down during the school day by a mass shooter and that the grieving parents were actors.
Jones called the tragedy a “Hoax,” a “False Flag” operation intended to sway public opinion against gun owners.
“They staged Sandy Hook. The evidence is just overwhelming, and that’s why I’m so desperate and freaked out,” said Jones in an April 2013 online rant.
Jones would later state he was not the originator of the theory and that he was only commenting on what he found on the internet.
In one lawsuit, Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa said the lies spread by Alex Jones led to them being harassed to the point that they had to move.
Pozner and Veronique’s son Noah, age 6, was killed at Sandy Hook.
In another suit, Scarlett Lewis said Jones orchestrated a campaign of harassment.
The Connecticut parents sued in Travis County court for defamation and emotional distress in multiple cases. Infowars is based in Austin. Lawyers in the case didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from TPR.
Jones admitted after the 2018 lawsuits that the shooting had occurred.
Jones also lost a ruling delaying a case where he is accused of misidentifying Marcel Fontaine as the mass shooter in a separate school shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
“Mr. Fontaine was sent violent threats, including a threat that referenced his place of employment,” said Fontaine’s lawyers in court documents.
Jones sought to delay cases as long as he could. At one point, he requested one court case to be transferred to the federal system. At another, he refused to respond to discovery requests ordered by the court.
Friday’s ruling means, after years of delay, the cases can proceed. The cases represent millions of dollars in damages.
Jones’ show has been pulled off YouTube, and he has been banned from many social media platforms.
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