The lower court judge barred Jones from filing a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, as a penalty for his actions. The families said they have been subjected to harassment and death threats from Jones followers because of the hoax conspiracy. The sanction came after Jones, on Infowars last year, accused Mattei of planting child pornography that was found in email metadata files that Jones turned over to the Sandy Hook families lawyers. Jones' lawyer, Norman Pattis, has said the pornography was in emails sent to Jones that were never opened. Sandy Hook families sued Jones and others in several states for defamation related to the hoax conspiracy.