FPC’s coverage of the prosecution of publishers Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin on charges related to Backpage.
We are journalists, editors, artists, and public servants who support veteran newspaperman Michael Lacey in his First Amendment fight with the federal government. On July 31, 2023, Lacey’s longtime business partner, veteran newspaperman James Larkin, died tragically one week before…
On Friday, at the final pretrial hearing in the Backpage case, federal Judge Diane Humetewa in Phoenix shot down a defense suggestion that the prosecution not use the terms “sex trafficking” and “child sex trafficking” during the Aug. 29 trial…
The reality of veteran newspaperman Jim Larkin’s untimely demise on July 31 at age 74 has begun to sink in, with remembrances, articles, and commentary appearing on social media and legacy media alike. His death came close to the start…
FROM MICHAEL LACEY Jim Larkin’s passing has torn at my heart. I knew him for over 40 years as we pursued stories across America, literally from sea to shining sea. He began a newspaper in high school; journalism was quite…
During a marathon six-hour pre-trial hearing in Phoenix’s federal court on Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Diane Humetewa ruled that the defense in the Backpage case can argue the adult-themed ads that appeared on the classified listings site were, in…
The following report contains opinion and analysis that is the author’s alone. In an order issued on Monday, July 24, federal Judge Diane Humetewa in Phoenix granted prosecutors significant wins on a series of motions affecting the retrial of veteran…
On July 7, a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit shot down a constitutional challenge to one of the most dangerous laws passed by Congress in recent memory: the 2018 Fight Online Sex…
With about a month to go before jury selection is set to begin in the retrial of veteran journalists Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, defense attorneys have filed a new motion arguing that a June 23 decision by the U.S….
Statement from Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin: The U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) in Phoenix recently filed nine motions in our case aimed at denying us a fair trial, the most egregious of which asks federal Judge Diane Humetewa to prevent…
Is the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Arizona getting legal advice from North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un? Forgive the jest, but on Thursday, prosecutors in the August 8 retrial of veteran newspapermen Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin filed nine pretrial…
