Backpage trial delayed over Covid infection

PHOENIX (CN) — The trial against Michael Lacey and other former executives of the notorious Backpage.com will continue… eventually. 

Proceedings were put on ice Tuesday morning for the second time in a month after one defendant contracted Covid-19 over the weekend. U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa tentatively set recommencement for next week, contingent upon the defendant’s health.

Scott Spear, former executive vice president of the classified personal advertising website Backpage, first tested positive for the virus Saturday morning, and tested positive again Monday.

He faces, alongside Phoenix New Times founder Lacey and three others, a 100-count felony indictment for facilitating prostitution and money laundering charges. The federal government laid out its case before Labor Day weekend, accusing the group of profiting off of illegal prostitution and deceiving law enforcement by pretending to it was trying to rid the site of prostitution.

Defense attorneys said the efforts were genuine, citing thank you letters the site received from the FBI and other local and state agencies. They were set to finish opening statements Wednesday morning in the projected three-month trial.

“I don’t really see the benefit of trying to have [trial] this week,” Spear’s attorney Bruce Feder told Judge Humetewa in a Tuesday status conference. 

He said Spear’s condition has “slightly improved,” but he is still facing “fever and traditional symptoms” of Covid.

Feder and Spear’s other attorney Eric Kessler have tested negative more than once, but Kessler said he’s immunocompromised and worried about an outbreak.

Spear declined to waive his right to be present for trial, meaning it can’t continue now until he’s recovered. Guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still require five days of quarantine from the initial positive test, making Friday the first available date to continue, given a negative test.

Unsure whether Spear will have recovered by then, Humetewa requested that the defendant agree to a compromise and plan to appear electronically Friday morning. That would allow attorneys to finish opening statements and go into the next week ready to begin witness testimony.

Spear refused, insisting on being in-person for all parts of the trial. So, instead, Humetewa asked Spear to provide a test result Thursday morning. If it's negative, opening statements will continue, and conclude, Friday. If positive, the judge will delay trial until at least next Tuesday. 

Humetewa asked attorneys what might happen if the illness persists. 

“What prevents the court from declaring a mistrial as to Mr. Spear," she asked, "and proceeding with the others?”

Paul Cambria, who represents Lacey, said the rest of the attorneys wouldn’t be able to divvy up remaining responsibilities, should two attorneys drop out of the trial. 

Spear’s condition is just one of several factors that have stretched this case across more than five years. The pandemic repeatedly delayed proceedings when the case first went to trial in 2021, and the government’s repeated mention of child sex trafficking — not a charge brought against the defendants — during opening arguments resulted in a mistrial. 

The case was set to return to trial for the second time in the first week of August, but was delayed once again after former Backpage co-founder and defendant James Larkin died by suicide a week earlier. 

In opening arguments last week, prosecutor Andrew Stone accused Spear of managing Backpage’s relationship with the Erotic Review, a website that allows customers to write reviews about adult service providers like escorts, which Stone said is only code for prostitutes. Some Backpage ads accused of promoting prostitution contained links to the service providers' page on the Erotic Review, which listed actions including sex and blowjobs. 

Spear’s attorneys haven’t yet had the chance to counter that accusation with opening arguments of their own. 

Once openings are finished, the government plans to call former Backpage CEO and eventual owner Carl Ferrer as its first witness. Ferrer pleaded guilty in 2018 to conspiracy to facilitate prostitution alongside former sales and marketing director Dan Hyer, who’s also expected to testify.

The parties will convene next on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. outside of the jury's presence to discuss objections to exhibits the government plans to show while questioning Ferrer. 

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