Alex Jones Finally Sits For Sandy Hook Depositions

NEWTOWN, CT — Conspiracy theorist and internet media host Alex Jones faced daily fines of $25,000 or more for missed settlement depositions in the Sandy Hook defamation cases, and according to recent court filings, he has begun paying them.

Connecticut Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis imposed fines late last month against Jones, who lost the defamation lawsuits last year by default. He said he was suffering from an undisclosed medical, and repeatedly skipped scheduled depositions in the case, which prompted the ruling by Bellis.

On Tuesday, Jones finally sat for depositions that continued on Wednesday, he said in a video posted on his InfoWars.com website.

While Jones was skipping depositions, he reportedly continued to record editions of his internet show.

The fines started incurring on Friday and increase in $25,000 increments each weekday that he does not sit for a deposition at the Bridgeport offices of Koskoff, Koskoff and Bieder, the law firm that represents the Sandy Hook families.

In a court filing dated April 4, Jones said he had paid $50,000 in fines, and he reportedly had said that he would sit for a deposition on Monday, April 11, wrote legal website AboveTheLaw.com.

Instead, Jones, a Texas resident, flew to Connecticut a week early for the depositions.

Jones was sued by several families of victims of the December 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 20 students and six educators were killed. He had claimed the massacre was a hoax, but he later changed his view and said the killings were real.

New Haven-based attorney Norm Pattis, who represents Jones, has filed an appeal of the fines, in which he argues that Bellis's ruling was biased.

"The defendant in this case is Alex Jones, and, to many, that is reason enough to uphold any fine or sanction," Pattis wrote. "But the law, our law, is better than mere vendetta. The law is at is best when tested and applied to the damned and despised. In the consolidated actions at issue here, Jones and others are sued for comments they made denying that the shootings at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012 took place. For many Connecticut residents, that is reason enough to hate Jones. One suspects Judge Bellis has succumbed to that hatred."