AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The Latest on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones asking a Texas judge to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by the family of child killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting (all times local):
6:10 p.m.
A lawyer for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has told a Texas judge that the “Infowars” host may have views considered fringe or dangerous but that his comments don’t rise to the level of defamation.
Jones wasn’t in a Travis County courtroom Wednesday as his attorneys asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the parents of one of the children killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Jones has claimed that the Connecticut shooting that killed 20 children and six adults was a hoax.
An attorney for Jones, Mark Enoch, told the court the host uses “rhetorical hyperbole” after playing more than a half-hour of footage from one Infowars episode.
State District Judge Scott Jenkins has a month to decide whether to let the lawsuit proceed.
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12 p.m.
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones wants a Texas judge to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed against him by families of some of the children killed in the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
A hearing Wednesday in Austin is the first of two this week involving the “Infowars” host. He was sued after repeatedly claiming on his Austin-based show that the Connecticut shooting was a hoax. The shooting killed 20 children and six adults.
Jones now admits the shooting occurred but says his claims were free speech.
A similar lawsuit was filed in Connecticut. He’s also being sued by a man falsely identified on the Infowars website as the gunman who killed 17 people at a Florida high school in February.
Jones’ profile has spread from the far-right fringe in recent years. While running for president in 2015, Donald Trump told Jones his reputation was “amazing.”
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