Just as after virtually every high profile shooting in this country, a cottage industry of conspiracy theorists sprung up after the Sandy Hook shooting. Alex Jones has claimed both that the shooting was a “false flag” operation conducted by the government and that no one actually died there that day. Jones has lost a defamation suit brought by some of the victims’ families.
Another similar lawsuit was brought against James Fetzer and Mike Palacek who wrote a book entitled Nobody Died at Sandy Hook. The two authors claimed, according to npr.com, that “the mass shooting was a FEMA drill to promote gun control and that the grieving father (Leonard Pozner) had fabricated his son Noah’s death certificate, which is a crime in Connecticut.”
Fetzer lost that suit. Now he’s been ordered to pay Pozner a six-figure damage award.
From the Associated Press . . .
A jury in Wisconsin has awarded $450,000 to the father of a boy killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting after he filed a defamation lawsuit against conspiracy theorist writers who claimed the massacre never happened.
A Dane County jury Tuesday decided the amount James Fetzer must pay Leonard Pozner, whose 6-year-old son Noah was among the 26 victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.
Fetzer and Mike Palacek co-wrote a book, “Nobody Died at Sandy Hook.” A judge earlier ruled Pozner was defamed by statements in the book that claimed he fabricated copies of his son’s death certificate.
The Wisconsin State Journal reports Fetzer, a retired Minnesota professor, plans to appeal the award. Palacek reached a settlement with Pozner last month. The terms were not disclosed.
As the Wisconsin State Journal reports . . .
Pozner is among a group of Sandy Hook parents whose defamation case against right-wing conspiracy theorist and “Infowars” host Alex Jones is pending. Pozner has filed other Sandy Hook-related litigation and founded the nonprofit HONR Network, which seeks to counter online hoaxes and harassment.