I agree. The trouble with defamation is you need to show malice, which I don't think would have been met under a jury trial. This is total bullshit and absolutely nothing compared to the actual malice that comes out from CNN/MSNBC/AP and others.
Yeah, it's not like Jones told people to make death threats against those families. It could have even easily been glowies making the death threats in order to cause the lawsuit in the first place.
It is pretty fucked up that you can have such large lawsuits that do not have juries. Like Judge Judy level trials, fine have a single decision maker. In $100,000+ lawsuits, that needs a damned jury.