Court reconvenes at 9 a. Please follow me for updates on Twitter stephenlemons. For most of the monologue, the priggish prosecutor largely ignored the actual charges against veteran newspapermen Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, which pertain to facilitating misdemeanor state prostitution offenses in violation of the U.
Travel Act due to their former ownership of the Craigslist-like classified ads site, Backpage. The feds have also charged Lacey and Larkin with money laundering and conspiracy. Instead, Jones dove right into the proverbial sewer, accusing Lacey, Larkin and their four co-defendants of crimes they have not committed and have not been charged with, the worst being child sex trafficking. Jones opened and closed his anti-Backpage tirade by projecting headshots of two mothers whose children, he alleged, had been the subject of ads uploaded to Backpage.
Significantly, he did not connect either minor to any of the 50 ads involved in the superseding indictment. Indeed, almost nothing in his opening statement referred to any of the 50 ads at issue. Rather, Jones wielded a two-ton sledgehammer of misdirection, even referencing raunchy terms and X-rated photos that had been blocked from publication on the site as evidence of guilt.
Which is a bald-faced lie. Backpage charged users to post ads in legal categories. It basically sold temporary space on an interactive website. Phone sex? Performances by striptease artists? Vulgar is not violent. Throughout the speech, the prosecutor casually conflated legal sex work with illegal sex work, and consensual prostitution with sex trafficking.
Unlike child sex trafficking, prostitution is a nuisance crime, committed by consenting adults and largely prosecuted by municipalities. Sex trafficking, per federal law, is far more serious and involves inducing an adult into commercial sex via force, fraud or coercion. Minors cannot consent to sexual activity and are always considered to be trafficking victims if caught up in the sex trade.
