#BackpageTrial is over. I was deathly afraid that prosecutors would ask the judge to remand the defendants into the custody of the marshals after the verdicts were read. But that didn’t happen.
Following the verdicts, Judge Humetewa immediately informed the defendants that they
In #BackpageTrial, Lacey guilty on one count of international concealment money laundering. Joy Vaught and Andrew Padilla NG to all, I believe. Jed Brunst and Scott Spear guilty on multiple counts.
When DOJ took down Backpage in April 2018, then U.S. AG Jeff Sessions crowed, "We have taken a major step toward keeping women and children across America safe.” This was total BS, as the government itself now admits in a new GAO report. (thread)1/
Sam, you can't kill someone because he yells at you. Plus, this is NY. People get in people's faces all the time there. Literally, you can't avoid it. And you can't kill someone becaue they do. The law has a higher bar.
So phony. I used to have coffee with this guy on a regular basis. Guess what he never talked about, and I mean never? Hunting. Of course, he never mentioned the border either. Then he decided to run for Senate. Sad.
At #BackpageTrial in fed court in Phx, a bit of a bombshell. Defense attorney Gary Lincenberg asked the court to dismiss the case based on a late revelation of material that should have been disclosed to the defense as “Jencks material.” It’s a 91 page report created in part by
This is a very effective remedy. And the consequences are potentially far worse than the beat down. On the other hand, they don’t pull this ish in African American neighborhoods for a reason.
A statement from journalist Michael Lacey, made just before the start of the #Backpage sentencing hearing, which ended today with Lacey being sentenced to 60 months in prison and a $3M fine for being the co-owner of a classified listings site:
FOR OVER 50 YEARS JIM LARKIN WAS MY
#FreetheBackpage3 In a black day for freedom of speech, journalist, muckraker and philanthropist Michael Lacey turned himself in to federal authorities at the Sandra Day O’Connor U.S Courthouse in Phoenix, a little before noon today, to begin serving a 5 yr sentence. 1/
While I'm glad the @ACLU is doing this, it continues to ignore the Backpage trial. I've spoken to lawyers at national ACLU, they refuse to even make a statement or write a blog. And yet, Backpage case is all about the First Amendment and the free speech rights of sex workers. 1/
BREAKING: We just filed a Federal Trade Commission complaint, calling for an investigation into Mastercard’s policies discriminating against online sex workers.
