'Not Worried About Blowback': Lawyers for Sandy Hook Families Discuss Suit Against InfoWars' Alex Jones
Two families of children killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting sue InfoWars host Alex Jones for defamation.
April 17, 2018 at 05:09 PM
4 minute read
A media spotlight is now on the Houston-based law firm that sued InfoWars founder Alex Jones for defamation after his public rants questioned whether the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings ever took place.
The attorneys in the case told The Connecticut Law Tribune on Tuesday they are not concerned about repercussions or blowback from Jones' many supporters.
Jones is a right-wing conspiracy theorist who hosts “InfoWars” and “The Alex Jones Show.” His claims that the government staged the shooting helped fuel widespread theories that the victims' families were “crisis actors.” The allegations led some followers to confront the grieving families and challenge their stories.
Now, the national spotlight—and the eyes of Jones' followers—are on the Texas attorneys representing the families.
“We've gotten calls from his supporters, but, in all honesty, we are not worried about the blowback we will receive,” said William Ogden, a partner at Kaster Lynch Farrar & Ball. “Our law firm is not one to shy away from a legal war. It's just the right thing to do.”
Ogden said his firm jumped at the opportunity to represent Neil Heslin, Leonard Pozner and his former wife Veronique De La Rosa in two Austin, Texas, lawsuits.
Both families lost 6-year-old boys in the shooting that took 26 lives.
The suits name Jones, Austin-based InfoWars LLC, its affiliate Free Speech Systems LLC and InfoWars reporter Owen Shroyer as defendants.
|'Disgusting Lies'
Ogden said one especially incendiary comment from Shroyer motivated the law firm into the high-profile fight. ”He questioned whether or not a parent [Heslin] had held his dead child in his arms,” Ogden said. “That was not only upsetting, but that was the motivating factor for us to take the case.”
According to the Heslin lawsuit, a June 2017 “InfoWars” segment featured Shroyer claiming he reviewed evidence showing it was impossible for Heslin to have held his son and seen his injuries.
The lawsuit quotes Shroyer as saying, “He's claiming that he held his son and saw the bullet hole in his head. That is his claim. Now, according to a timeline of events and a coroner's testimony, that is not possible.”
The lawsuits were filed in Austin, headquarters of InfoWars. No one from InfoWars could be reached for comment Tuesday. The media outlet had not assigned an attorney to the case as of Tuesday.
Kaster Lynch partners Mark Bankston and Kyle Farrar join Ogden in bringing the defamation lawsuit on behalf of the families. They make it clear that the civil lawsuits have nothing to do with freedom of the press or restricting Jones' media operations.
“These lawsuits are not about the First Amendment,” Bankston said. “These lawsuits are about Mr. Jones' disgusting lies. In all of our years of helping families who have lost loved ones under horrific circumstances, we have never seen victims subjected to this kind of malicious cruelty. Their pain is unfathomable.”
The families contacted Kaster Lynch after hearing the firm represented Marcel Fontaine, a man whom Jones' media site incorrectly identified as the Parkland, Florida, shooter.
The complaint in the Parkland suit states InfoWars has about 30 million page views a month.
“This is not a mom-and-pop media source,” Ogden said. “They have a big audience and even have White House press credentials. There are definitely people who believe [Jones]. Why they believe him I have no clue.”
The lawsuits cite numerous examples of Jones and InfoWars saying that the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School never happened.
“For 5 1/2 years these families have had to listen to a media outlet … calling them liars,” Ogden said. “It's unreal to think we are having this conversation right now. Human decency would dictate that people should not act this way.”
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