Case against Alex Jones can proceed, Connecticut judge says

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — 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 kinfolk of some victims of the 2012 bloodbath at Sandy Hook Elementary College in Newtown, Connecticut. Jones has falsely claimed that the nation’s deadliest faculty taking pictures — 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.

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 Programs, 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 determination, including that the plaintiffs’ claims for damages have been prepared for trial.

A message was left searching for remark with Jones’ lawyer, Norm Pattis.

Chris Mattei, an lawyer for the plaintiffs, praised the chapter decide’s determination. “We’re grateful the chapter court docket noticed by way of Alex Jones’s brazen effort to dam a jury from being empaneled and holding him accountable. We look ahead to trial,” he mentioned in a written assertion.

Free Speech Programs 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 youngsters killed at Sandy Hook, along with one other $4.1 million he should pay for the struggling he put them by way of by claiming for years that the taking pictures was a hoax.

Jones’ attorneys plan to enchantment and attempt to decrease the quantity. In the meantime, apart from 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 kinfolk of a few of the Sandy Hook victims.

The Connecticut jury will determine what, if any, damages Jones owes in that case, though state regulation may 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 may resume this week, legal professionals mentioned.

___ This story has been corrected to indicate that solely Free Speech Programs filed for chapter, not Alex Jones as a person.