Joy Bertrand

At the Backpage trial in Phoenix’s federal court on Tuesday, prosecutors continued to introduce prejudicial material into the trial involving sex trafficking and child sex trafficking, drawing yet another mistrial motion from defense attorneys. It was the defense’s fourth mistrial…

Pink Elephant

After a half-day of trial on Friday, Sept. 15 in Phoenix, wherein federal proecutors made numerous references to children and child sex trafficking in the Backpage case, Joy Bertrand, attorney for Joye Vaught, a former Backpage employee, renewed the defense’s…

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…

Janus

On Thursday in Phoenix, U.S. District Court Judge Diane Humetewa denied a defense motion asking her to dismiss the five-year-old criminal case against veteran newspapermen Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin. The ruling clears the path for an August 8 retrial…

Statue of Greek God of Justice, themis

Nearly a year since their first trial ended in a mistrial due to prosecutorial misconduct, storied newspapermen Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin head to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on September 2, arguing that a retrial would…