Backpage Judge Slaps Down Defense Subpoena, Sets New Trial Date

While the judge in the federal money laundering and “facilitating prostitution” case against Backpage.com co-founders Michale Lacey and James Larkin awaits an appellate court decision that may force her to step down, Judge Susan Brnovich (pictured above right) in February slapped down a subpoena from Lacey and Larkin. Lawyers for the indicted Backpage entrepreneurs are demanding documents from Brnovich’s husband, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich (above left).  The attorney general had made statements sharply critical of Backpage, and his office had published a pamphlet openly accusing the company — which was shuttered by federal agents in April of 2018 — of “facilitating illegal prostitution,”  the exact charge that Lacey and Larkin now face. Since November, the co-defendants have demanded that Judge Brnovich recuse herself from the case, due to her husband’s previous attacks on Backpage. But she refused, stating in a 14-page ruling that she is “an independent person from AG Brnovich, and the average person on the street would not reasonably believe that the Court would approach this case in a partial manner” due to her husband’s public statements regarding Backpage. Lacey and Larkin appealed her refusal to step down, and last month, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said that it would make a ruling on the case. The court had set March 3 as a date for oral arguments via teleconference, but later cancelled those arguments saying that it had all of the information it needed in the legal briefs submitted by defense lawyers and prosecutors. The Ninth Circuit did not set a date for when it may issue a ruling on whether Brnovich may remain as presiding judge for the Backpage trial. The upcoming trial has now been pushed back six times, the most recent three postponements due to concerns over how the COVID-19 pandemic could affect the legal proceedings.  On February 12, Brnovich set a new trial date, postponing the trial from April 12 to August 23 in a Phoenix, Arizona, federal courtroom. Bronovich is the third judge on the Backpage case. Both previous judges recused themselves due in one instance to a personal conflict, and in the other, with no reason given.  The subpoena from Lacey and Larkin’s lawyers demanded documents from the attorney general’s office including any “correspondence or records” in which Mark Brnovich may have mentioned Lacey, Larkin, Backpage, or the ongoing case against them, according to a report by Frontpage Confidential, a news site owned by Lacey and Larkin, designed largely to report developments in the case from their point of view.  In her four-page ruling, Judge Brnovich denied the subpoena, saying that the documents sought by Lacey and Larkin “are procurable by other means,” specifically, through the state’s Public Records Law. She also accused Lacey and Larkin of attempting to “use the subpoena process as a discovery tool and attempt to embark on a fishing expedition for helpful evidence.” Mark Brnovich, a conservative Republican, is believed to be contemplating a run for Arizona governor in 2022. Incumbent Republican Governor Doug Ducey is barred from seeking a third term due to Arizona’s term limits in the governor’s office. Lacey and Larkin have claimed that the attorney general’s stance against Backpage is motivated by his “political considerations,” and that their conviction — in a trial presided over by his own wife — would aid him in his gubernatorial campaign, which would certainly be based on a “law and order” platform. Photo By Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons