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…

Joy Bertrand: kicking ass and taking names (via Facebook)

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…

orozco

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…

Groundhog

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….

1984

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…

Judge Diane Humetewa

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…

Carl_Ferrer

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…

Covid

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…