Alex Jones, the Infowars host who claimed the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax, must sit for a sworn deposition for a lawsuit brought by parents of the shooting's victims, a Connecticut judge ruled Wednesday.

Jones, an conspiracy theorist, faces lawsuits for claiming on his online show that the mass killings of 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook elementary in 2012 was staged by paid actors who faked the children's deaths.

Families of the victims behind the lawsuit claim they've received an onslaught of harassment and threats in the wake of Jones' claims. One of the plaintiffs, Mark Barden, who lost his son in the shooting, issued a statement Wednesday.

"For years, Alex Jones and his co-conspirators have turned the unthinkable loss of our sweet little Daniel and of so many others into advertising dollars and fundraising appeals," Barden said, according to Connecticut's WFSB-TV.

"It is far beyond time that he be held accountable for the pain his false narratives have caused so many and today’s ruling brings us one step closer to doing that.”

Bridgeport Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis ruled that attorneys for the families and a first responder can depose Jones for a total of five hours for the lawsuit, in which families claim Jones knowingly made the false claims to draw advertisers and profit, the Hartford Courant reported.

Jones' attorney, Jay Wolman, has claimed Jones is protected under the First Amendment and compared him to famed Watergate journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, according to the newspaper.

The judge also ruled that, in addition to Jones, the families' attorneys can depose others key to Inforwars' business operations, according to Connecticut's The News-Times.

More:Sandy Hook families suing Alex Jones aren't the only ones to threaten him

Follow Josh Hafner on Twitter: @joshhafner