HARTFORD, Conn. — In a sharply critical decision, a Superior Court judge has suspended Infowars broadcaster Alex Jones’ lawyer Norm Pattis from practicing law for six months for the “inexcusable” disclosure of thousands of protected medical and psychiatric records obtained from relatives of Sandy Hook shooting victims.
Judge Barbara Bellis, who presided over the contentious Connecticut case that ended last year in a $1.4 billion verdict, said Pattis’ failure to protect highly sensitive records entrusted to his office caused them to be “carelessly passed around from one unauthorized person to another” in violation of multiple court orders.
Bellis said that Pattis’ “abject failure to safeguard the plaintiff’s sensitive records” violated a half dozen rules of professional conduct, including those having to do with misconduct and competence. What’s more, she said his misconduct in general was worsened by his decision to assert his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination and refuse to answer questions about the improper disclosure during a hearing she convened in court last year.
