BRIDGEPORT — A judge has ruled that families of the victims killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting can depose Infowars host Alex Jones and several other defendants in their defamation case against the conspiracy theory site that called the shooting a hoax.
The judge ruled Wednesday that Jones must submit to a sworn deposition. The plaintiffs attorneys also said the families can depose other defendants in the case, including those critical to Infowars’ business operations.
Six Newtown families filed a lawsuit in April against InfoWars publisher and owner Alex Jones, accusing him of subjecting them to harassment and death threats from his followers. A judge on Friday granted the families’ discovery requests, allowing them to access the website’s internal marketing and financial documents.
Mark Barden, whose son, Daniel, was killed in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, said in a statement, “For years, Alex Jones and his co-conspirators have turned the unthinkable loss of our sweet little Daniel and of so many others into advertising dollars and fundraising appeals. It is far beyond time that he be held accountable for the pain his false narratives have caused so many and today’s ruling brings us one step closer to doing that.”
The plaintiff in the case are Jacqueline and Mark Barden, parents of Daniel; Nicole and Ian Hockley, parents of Dylan; Francine and David Wheeler, parents of Ben; Jennifer Hensel and Jeremy Richman, parents of Avielle; and Robert Parker, father of Emilie – as well as Donna Soto, Carlee Soto-Parisi, Carlos M. Soto and Jillian Soto, the mother and three siblings (respectively) of first-grade teacher Victoria Leigh Soto, Erica Lafferty-Garbatini, the daughter of Sandy Hook Elementary School Principal Dawn Hochsprung and Bill Sherlach, the husband of Mary Sherlach. William (Bill) Aldenberg, an FBI agent and first responder to the scene, is also a plaintiff.
