(UnitedVoice.com) – A mass shooting at an elementary school nearly 10 years ago shocked the nation. In the days and years afterwards, Infowars’ Alex Jones sowed doubt in the minds of his radio show listeners as to whether the massacre ever happened. The victims’ families eventually sued him and now they’ve reportedly rejected a settlement offer from him.
On December 14, 2012, a shooter gunned down his mother, then went to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut and killed 20 first graders as well as 6 school employees. As the families of the victims tried to put their lives back together, they faced harassment. Jones and his followers called the shooting a false flag and said the victims were crisis actors. Ten families and one FBI agent, in three separate lawsuits, eventually sued the radio host for defamation. In both cases involving the families, the courts ruled in their favor, finding Jones liable by default.
On Tuesday, March 29, Jones offered eight plaintiffs in one suit $120,000 each to settle the case, but all of the families rejected the offer.
Conspiracy extremist Alex Jones lost a defamation case against eight Sandy Hook families, who sued him for saying the massacre was “staged.”
The families have now rejected Jones’ offer to settle ahead of a trial to determine damages, court documents show.https://t.co/a50FSU6vEM
— Connecticut Post (@connpost) March 30, 2022
The families sent a statement to Connecticut Public calling Jones’ offer a “transparent and desperate attempt” to avoid facing a “public reckoning” for his “deceitful, profit-driven campaign” against the grieving families.
In a statement on March 30, InfoWars claimed it had been trying to settle the case for a year but the families refused. It went on to accuse the families of trying to put the website out of business, then went on to insinuate the attorneys involved in the case are hate-filled “ambulance chasers.”
In the meantime, Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis held Jones in contempt and ordered he pay a fine of $25,000 for the first day he does not sit for a required deposition. She said the daily penalties will increase by $25,000 each day and if he fails to comply by April 15 she will impose additional sanctions.
Hearings later this year will determine damages.
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