A Connecticut judge has ordered InfoWars host Alex Jones to give a sworn deposition in a case brought against him by families of Sandy Hook shooting victims.
Jones, along with three of his associates named as defendants in the case, must sit through questioning for up to five hours each by the attorneys for the families of the victims. Bridgeport Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis ruled that the families are "entitled to conduct discovery likely to lead to admissible evidence for the purposes of opposing the motion to dismiss."
In the 39-page complaint filed, the families allege that even though Jones "does not in fact believe that the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax," he accused them of "faking their loved ones' deaths and insisted that the children killed that day are actually alive." Beyond what the plaintiffs are calling "false narratives," they also claim that Jones and his associates have subjected them to death threats, harrassments and abuse both on and offline.
"For years, Alex Jones and his co-conspirators have turned the unthinkable loss of our sweet little Daniel and some many others into advertising dollars and fundraising appeals," said Mark Barden, in a statement.
His son was one of 20 first-graders killed in the 2012 mass shooting.
"It is far beyond time that he be held accountable for the pain his false naratives have caused so many," Barden said.
Among the plantiffs are the parents of four children, family members of a teacher and principal, an FBI agent and a first responder.
"Our complaint details many statements that he has made and that individuals on his show have made which denied that Sandy Hook happened, which claimed that parents of children who were lost were crisis actors," said Chris Mattei, an attorney with Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder. "The deposition will allow us to confront him with these statements and get an answer under oath."
Last month, Bellis ordered Jones to turn over InfoWars financial and marketing documents. Jones' attorney Jay Wolman unsuccessfully attempted to appeal directly to the state Supreme Court to overturn that ruling.
