On Tuesday, a Wisconsin jury determined the amount that Fetzer must pay Posner for defamatory statements, with foreperson writing in $ 450000 on the form.

First, they lost their children. Then the conspiracy theories began. Now Newtown’s parents are resisting.

Zimmerman said the case sent an important signal that families can stand up for the truth, and it sends a signal to those who spread theories.

Anyone else who is in the business of harassing the families of victims of mass casualty events that have unfortunately become a cottage industry seems to have to look at this and say there is a cost to making these statements, Zimmerman said.

Fetzer, a Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota in Duluth, defended the book, which was written by 13 people, and its findings.

This result represents a significant setback for citizen journalists ‘ collaborative research in an ongoing effort to offset the widespread impact of fake news on a host of events, including JFK, 9/11, the Boston bombing and (even) the moon landing, he wrote in an email Wednesday. When books are banned, people are deprived of alternative perspectives in the search for truth, as this case so vividly illustrates.

He founded the nonprofit network HONR to combat harassment, and he and other families have sued people who questioned the attack, including Alex Jones, who runs the conspiracy-theory-based website Infowars.

Posner and his lawyer went to great lengths at the defamation trial to prove that Noah Posner was a real little boy who lived and died: they gave the judge a death certificate, with the seal raised, to counter the claim in the book that it was forged; turned over dozens of pages of pediatric medical records; and presented DNA samples of Noah and lenny Posner.

In September, Posner reached an agreement with Palecek, according to court documents. Zimmerman said Palecek agreed to the statement: the Court ruled that Noah Posner’s death certificate is not a fabrication as stated in the book No one died at sandy hook. I accept the decision of the courts without appeal and I apologize for any resulting distress that I may have caused.

In a previous settlement, the book’s publisher, David R. Gahary, agreed to stop the sale.

Zimmerman said he and Posner did not offer the jury an amount of damages for the reputational and emotional damage Posner suffered. A forensic psychiatrist testified that Posner suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after the deaths of his sons, and that the defamatory statements essentially caused secondary injuries, which means his PTSD is chronic and probably won’t go away, Zimmerman Said. According to him, the jury’s large cash prize reflects the agony of persecution in this way.

Posner said: the Damages awarded to me for Mr. Fetzers prolific defamation and harassment are significant, not so much for the dollar amount, which I will probably never see because of Mr. Fetzers economic reality, but also for the precedent he sets. It sends a signal to fraudsters and conspiracy theorists and others who seek to use the Internet to re-victimize and terrorize vulnerable people that their actions have consequences. When you denigrate people online, it has consequences.

The verdict is also important for other victims of online harassment and hoaxes, Posner said in a written statement, including victims of other mass casualty incidents, school and Church shootings, and high-profile killings. Every victory empowers victims of online hate and harassment to stand up and take the action this victory gives them … tools for this.