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…
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….
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…
Should the U.S. Department of Justice get to decide that a federal law means one thing in the five-year-old criminal case in Arizona against veteran newspapermen and ex-Backpage owners Jim Larkin and Michael Lacey, while, at the same time, arguing…
In an order dated March 23, U.S. District Court Judge Diane Humetewa in Phoenix set a new start date for the retrial of veteran newspapermen Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, former owners of the Craigslist-esque classified listings site Backpage.com: August…
See judge’s order, here: Unprompted by the parties in the case, federal Judge Diane Humetewa suggested severing the upcoming trials of ex-Backpage owners Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin from their fellow defendants. In an order filed Thursday in federal court…
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…
