HARTFORD, Conn. — Conspiracy theorist and InfoWars founder Alex Jones failed to appear for a deposition Wednesday by families of Sandy Hook school massacre victims, and he could face arrest if he ignores an order from a Connecticut judge that he make himself available to answer questions on Thursday.
After a series of delays, Jones was supposed to appear for a deposition Wednesday and Thursday in Austin, Texas, where his company is based. Relatives of children murdered in the 2012 school shooting want to question him in connection with his broadcast assertions that the massacre was a hoax.
Jones’ absence from the deposition, which he already had postponed, is the latest in a series of delays that have held up movement on the suit. Frustrated by such delays, Connecticut Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis took the extraordinary step late last year of issuing a default order against Jones — effectively settling the suit in favor of the families and leaving only the question of damages against Jones and his businesses unresolved. The deposition was to be part of the process leading to the calculation of a damage award.
A Texas judge issued a similar order last year in a related case for what she called Jones’ “flagrant bad faith and callous disregard” for the parents and the court by repeatedly disregarding orders to disclose documents and records pertaining to the shootings and his assertions.
On Monday, Jones’ lawyers filed a motion in Connecticut claiming he was suffering from an undisclosed illness and asking for a delay. Attorney Norm Pattis wrote that Jones was under a doctor’s care for a condition requiring “immediate, and possibly, emergency testing.” Pattis said the doctor advised Jones against submitting to a deposition.
Christopher Mattei, who represents the Sandy Hook families, called the request a stalling tactic. Mattei said Jones was broadcasting Monday and again on Tuesday when his request for a postponement was argued in Connecticut.
“The court appropriately denied his motion and directed him to appear today,” Mattei said. “He refused to do that. This was in our view a cowardly display intended to cheat the plaintiffs of their right to put him under oath and ask him questions about why over the course of many years he lied about them, he lied about the loved ones that they lost at Sandy Hook and why he unleashed a barrage of harassment over many years that continues to today.”
Should Jones continue to resist being deposed, Mattei said the families will ask courts in Connecticut and Texas to order his arrest and forced appearance. Parties to the case were preparing arguments on such an arrest late Wednesday afternoon.
The shooting at Sandy Hook School in Newtown on Dec. 14, 2012, killed 20 first-graders and six educators. The gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, fatally shot his mother at their home nearby before going to the school and killed himself as police arrived.
The shooting was portrayed on Jones’ Infowars show as a hoax involving actors aimed at increasing gun control. Jones has since acknowledged the school shooting did occur.
———
