The following opinion piece reflects the views of the author and no one else. It was dusk on Thursday, Nov. 16 as the five Backpage defendants and their attorneys filed out of the steel-and-glass doors of the Sandra Day O’Connor…
This post repurposes recent Twitter/X reports from the #BackpageTrial in Phoenix’s Sandra Day O’Connor U.S. Courthouse. For regular updates, please follow the writer @stephenlemons. On Thursday morning in Phoenix’s federal court, there was a 40-minute hearing before Judge Diane Humetewa in…
This post repurposes recent Twitter/X reports from the #BackpageTrial in Phoenix’s Sandra Day O’Connor U.S. Courthouse. For regular updates, please follow the writer @stephenlemons. Fear the Red Pumps Joy Bertrand, attorney for ex-Backpage.com employee Joye Vaught, gave a brilliant closing statement…
This post repurposes recent Twitter/X reports from the #BackpageTrial in Phoenix’s Sandra Day O’Connor U.S. Courthouse. For regular updates, please follow the writer @stephenlemons. Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023: Mehlman-Orozco Kicks Prosecutorial Tuchis The last defense witness in the #BackpageTrial testified…
The #BackpageTrial resumes at 9 a.m., Monday, Oct. 23, in Phoenix’s federal court. For regular updates during breaks in the proceedings, follow @stephenlemons on Twitter/X. If the Law Doesn’t Fit, You Must Acquit . . . After nearly six weeks…
Update, 10/12/23, 12:03 p.m.: Judge Humetewa sided with the government this morning, denying the defense’s fifth motion to dismiss. She said, “On balance, there is no necessity to declare a mistrial.” For more, follow me on Twitter/X, @stephenlemons, #Backpage trial….
You may remember the passage from George Orwell’s novel 1984, in which protagonist Winston Smith’s torturer tells him, “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.” This quote came to mind…
The Backpage trial nearly jumped the tracks on Thursday in Phoenix’s federal court after the defense called twice for a mistrial, only to be denied each time by U.S. District Court Judge Diane Humetewa. Both motions involved material concerning children…
On Tuesday, Sept. 12 in Phoenix’s federal court, Carl Ferrer, the government’s lead witness in the Backpage trial, followed the prosecution’s playbook to a T, testifying that nearly everything the classified listings site did in its 14-year history knowingly facilitated…
Update, Thursday, Sept. 7: The Backpage trial will resume on Tuesday, Sept. 12, per an order today from the federal court in Phoenix. The court further ordered: ORDER as to Michael Lacey, et al., IT IS ORDERED that upon notice…
