Dad of Sandy Hook victim wins suit against conspiracy theorists
The dad of a Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victim won a defamation lawsuit this week against conspiracy theorists who wrote a book claiming the 2012 shooting — in which 26 people, including 20 kids, lost their lives — never happened.
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The book, “Nobody Died at Sandy Hook,” was pulled as the publisher settled claims filed by Lenny Pozner, whose 6-year-old son, Noah, was killed in the shooting.
A Wisconsin judge on Monday issued a summary judgment against the co-authors, James Fetzer and Mike Palacek. A trial to decide damages will begin in October.
The book claimed, among other things, that Noah’s death certificate was faked, said Pozner’s lawyer, Jake Zimmerman.
“If Mr. Fetzer wants to believe that Sandy Hook never happened and that we are all crisis actors, even that my son never existed, he has the right to be wrong. But he doesn’t have the right to broadcast those beliefs if they defame me or harass me,” Pozner said. “He doesn’t have the right to use my baby’s image or our name as a marketing ploy to raise donations or sell his products. He doesn’t have the right to convince others to hunt my family.”
Before Pozner’s case even reached a judge, Fetzer previously said “evidence clearly shows this wasn’t a massacre, it was a FEMA drill.”
“If you believe otherwise, then you are being played,” he added.
To prove the theorists wrong, Pozner even attached a redacted copy of his son’s death certificate to the lawsuit — and shared DNA samples to compare with those provided by the medical examiner, as evidence that Noah was his son.
He also placed his son’s birth certificate, report cards and medical records into the public file in his legal actions — to ensure that “normal people” can access the truth and don’t fall for the hoaxers’ claims.
Following the decision, the publishing company apologized to Pozner in a statement.
“My face-to-face interactions with Mr. Pozner have led me to believe that Mr. Pozner is telling the truth about the death of his son,” Dave Gahary, the principal officer at publisher Moon Rock Books, said Monday. “I extend my most heartfelt and sincere apology to the Pozner family.”
For years, hoaxers have harassed Pozner, claimed he was an actor whose son never existed — and even went so far as to send him death threats. Pozner has firmly pushed back against the conspirators, getting Facebook to remove conspiracy videos and even launching a website to debunk the theorists.
A Florida woman, Lucy Richards, who was sentenced to five months in prison for sending Pozner death threats, was banned by a judge from visiting websites run by conspiracy theorists, including Fetzer, Pozner’s lawsuit notes.
Pozner and other victims’ families earlier this year filed similar defamation lawsuits in Texas and Connecticut against Alex Jones, host of the conspiracy-driven Infowars website.
Christopher Mattei, a lawyer who represents the families in the Connecticut case against Jones, said he wants the theorists to know they are affecting real people, who are already going through severe emotional pain.
“When the grief process includes having to justify your grief or having to prove your child’s existence,” Mattei said, “it makes it very difficult.”
With Post wires
