A parent of a child who was killed in the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut is suing a Florida publisher for the publication of a book titled "Nobody Died at Sandy Hook," a recent Gainesville Sun posting said.
Leonard Pozner, whose 6-year-old son was killed in the shootings, is suing Crestview-based Wrongs Without Wremedies LLC, which publishes books under the name Moon Rock Books; David Gahary, the publisher's principal officer; and two colleagues of Gahary, Jim Fetzer and Mike Palecek.
The suit accuses the publisher of defamation and conspiring to commit defamation, as the book states that Pozner possessed and distributed a death certificate which falsified information about the death of his son, the posting said.
Gahary recently spoke with the Florida Record and explained why he does not believe he is guilty of any misdeeds.
"The publisher should not have been involved in the lawsuit because of the protections afforded by the U.S. Constitution and the applicable laws, due to 'the extremely high burden of proof on the plaintiff, and the difficulty of proving the defendant's knowledge and intentions,'" Gahary told the Florida Record.
Gahary said he believes that because of the high burden of proof, the plaintiff is unlikely to be successful in his lawsuit.
"There are many texts, emails, letters, articles, magazines, books, television shows, movies, etc., that are considered insensitive to any number of individuals or groups," Gahary said, likening it to the Declaration of Independence being insensitive to King George III and the British Empire.
"The intention of the book, I believe, is not to be insensitive to the Sandy Hook families, but is a scholarly effort to examine the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting," Gahary said.
The shooting took place Dec.14, 2012, and the book was released Oct. 22, 2015. It was banned by Amazon on Nov. 19, 2015, and Moon Rock Books decided to publish the book after it was banned on Amazon.