Pink Elephant

Note: the following expresses the opinions of Stephen Lemons and no one else. 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,…

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…

U.S. District Court Judge Diane Humetewa

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…

DC Circuit Seal

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…

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…

janus

The U.S. Department of Justice’s duplicity knows no bounds when it comes to the prosecution of veteran newspapermen Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin under the U.S. Travel Act, a Kennedy-era law intended to target organized crime. Case in point: the…