PHOENIX — The Arizona federal judge in charge of the Backpage.com retrial has pushed back the start of the trial, following the death of co-defendant James “Jim” Larkin.
U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa met with the parties on Friday, in a hearing scheduled before Larkin took his own life in Superior, Arizona last Monday.
The trial is now scheduled to begin August 29.
The judge “warned that Larkin’s death could impact the handling of evidence exhibits in the case, as well as limit the potential jury pool, because a ‘tremendous amount’ of potential jurors in the case may have heard about the executive’s suicide,” The Independent newspaper reported.
As XBIZ has been reporting, Backpage.com was shuttered and seized by federal authorities in 2018, days before President Trump signed FOSTA into law. The government accused Larkin and the company’s other top executive, Mike Lacey, of a number of crimes related to their ownership of the popular adult-oriented classifieds website. The case was subsequently used by several political figures, including Vice President Kamala Harris, as an example of the need for the FOSTA Section 230 exception.
Federal prosecutors accused the company of “participation in a conspiracy to facilitate and promote prostitution,” money laundering, human trafficking and other charges, which were strongly disputed by the defense.
In September 2021, Judge Susan Brnovich declared a mistrial, ruling that the government and its witnesses “crossed the line several times” by inaccurately implying that the case involved CSAM and child exploitation, even after she admonished them not to do so.