Alex Jones is still on the hook to pay daily, steadily increasing fines for skipping a deposition, a judge has decided.
Judge Barbara Bellis of Waterbury, Connecticut ruled on Friday that the right-wing conspiracy theorist will continue to pay tens of thousands of dollars for every weekday he fails to attend. The first fine, on Friday, will be $25,000, and will increase by another $25,000 each business day after that.
Mr Jones’ lawyers had asked Judge Bellis to hold off on the fines while he appealed the case to Connecticut’s State Supreme Court. Judge Bellis refused.
The deposition stems from a lawsuit by the families of children killed in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Mr Jones, the host of the right-wing programme InfoWars, publicly insisted that the shooting was a hoax – a false claim that the families say was defamatory.
Two days before he was set to testify under oath last week, Mr Jones’s lawyers made a last-ditch attempt to delay it by claiming he was too sick to attend due to unnamed “medical conditions” and that doctors had advised him to remain at home. Judge Bellis rejected the request to delay, but Mr Jones failed to show anyway.
Lawyers for the Infowars host filed a motion on Thursday asking Judge Bellis to reconsider the fines in light of a newly-scheduled deposition on 11 April – arguing that it was unfair to require him to “pay fines totalling potentially $1.65m for relying on a doctor’s note to not attend a deposition.”
Just as the motion was entered, Mr Jones aired his grievances against Judge Bellis on his show, branding her a liar and a “thing”.
“We got this judge up in Connecticut, if you could call it that — this thing that has just cheated us every way, lied about us, said we didn’t give them this, sanctioned us for not giving them the ‘Sandy Hook marketing,’” Mr Jones said, according to Media Matters. “It’s like saying give me the unicorn. Don’t have one, lady. I know you got a leprechaun.”
Mr Jones’ lawyers have promised the pundit will appear for his deposition on 11 April. If the fines continue, that means he will owe $525,000.
