Lawyers help Sandy Hook dad prevail.

Byline: Barbara L. Jones

When a Dane County Wisconsin jury returned a $450,000 verdict in favor of Leonard Pozner, he wasn't in the courtroom. He didn't feel safe walking in the dark through the people gathered at the courthouse.

Pozner's son Noah was murdered in a mass shooting at Sandy Hook school in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012 and the conspiracy theorists haven't let up on him or other parents since. Their theory is that Sandy Hook didn't happen and it's all a ruse so the government can confiscate people's firearms.

Pozner decided to fight the conspiracy rumormongers and consequently has been targeted. Death threats recur and other harassment triggers Pozner's chronic PTSD. So he sued James Fetzer, the author of "Nobody Died at Sandy Hook." He also founded the nonprofit HONR networks, which works to counter internet hoaxes. He and other Sandy Hook parents have sued Infowars host Alex Jones, who also has capitalized on the school shooting tragedy. His publisher has had a change of heart and pulled the Sandy Hook books out of distribution.

Pozner was represented by Jacob Zimmerman and his wife, Genevieve Zimmerman. They did not earn a fee for the case and paid the costs themselves, with the assistance of Genevieve's firm, Meshbesher & Spence. The Madison law firm of Quarles & Brady provided office space and assistance in the courtroom.

Fetzer is a professor emeritus from the University of Minnesota Duluth who lives in Oregon, Wisconsin. He has propagated conspiracy theories about the assassination of John Kennedy and the airplane crash death of Paul Wellstone. He denies that the Holocaust happened and says that the 2018 mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school was actually a "political operation" pulled off to benefit the Democratic Party.

Pozner wasn't alone in his security concerns. Fetzer's followers also targeted the court, leading the judge on his own motion to keep the identities of the jurors and their addresses confidential.

"This [anxiety] isn't speculative. There could be someone with a gun outside the courtroom that had decided that Leonard Pozner is a crisis actor being paid by George Solos. There are people who post videos with instructions on how to find his apartment," said Jacob Zimmerman.

Not litigating the killings

Pozner wanted Fetzer to experience consequences for his actions post-Sandy Hook but didn't want a trial on whether or not the tragedy was actually a dark state conspiracy.

"It's important to...