Sandy Hook families reject Alex Jones settlement offer

On this Nov. 5, 2020 file picture, radio host Alex Jones rallies professional Trump supporters outdoors the Maricopa County Recorder's Workplace, in Phoenix. (AP Picture/Matt York, File)

HARTFORD, CONN. --
Infowars host Alex Jones supplied to pay US$120,000 per plaintiff to resolve a lawsuit by kin of Sandy Hook Elementary College taking pictures victims who mentioned he defamed them by asserting the bloodbath by no means occurred, in line with court docket filings Tuesday. The supply was rapidly rejected by the households.

A Connecticut decide discovered Jones chargeable for damages in November, and a trial is deliberate to find out how a lot he ought to pay the households.

The plaintiffs mentioned they've been subjected to harassment and loss of life threats from Jones' followers due to the hoax conspiracy promoted on his present.

The court docket filings posted on-line mentioned: "Mr. Jones extends his heartfelt apology for any misery his remarks brought on."

Final week Jones defied a court docket order to attend a deposition close to his house in Austin, Texas, to supply testimony forward of the trial. Jones mentioned he was sick. A listening to is scheduled for Wednesday on a request by the plaintiffs to sanction Jones for not cooperating.

Attorneys for the households rejected the settlement supply inside just a few hours, saying in court docket filings that it was a "clear and determined try by Alex Jones to flee a public reckoning underneath oath along with his deceitful, profit-driven marketing campaign in opposition to the plaintiffs and the reminiscence of their family members misplaced at Sandy Hook."

Twenty first graders and 6 educators had been killed within the 2012 taking pictures in Newtown, Connecticut. The households of eight of the victims and an FBI agent who responded to the college sued Jones, Infowars and others in Connecticut over the hoax conspiracy. Jones has since mentioned he believes the taking pictures did happen.

Jones additionally was discovered chargeable for damages in related lawsuits filed in Texas by kin of Sandy Hook victims, and in addition faces trial later this yr.