Enlarge (credit: Ian Waldie/Getty Images)

Carl Ferrer, the embattled CEO of Backpage.com, filed papers Wednesday demanding that a local judge dismiss pimping and other charges that were brought against him. California’s attorney general, Kamala Harris, alleges that advertisements in the online ads portal amounted to solicitation of prostitution. Ferrer is accused of making millions in profits off the backs of women and children who were forced into sexual servitude and made to advertise their services on the Dallas-based site.

Carl Ferrer.

Ferrer said the First Amendment protects him from the charges, that he is not responsible for ads posted by third parties on the website, and that the Communications Decency Act prevents him from being liable for ads posted by third parties. Attorneys for Ferrer, who was the subject of a three-year joint criminal investigation by authorities in Texas and California, said neither he nor two Backpage controlling shareholders facing conspiracy charges had any “knowledge” of illegal ads. The lawyers said the trio had not “participated in any way in creation or posting of the speech.”

“The First Amendment bars the prosecution because imposing an obligation on publishers to review all speech to ensure that none is unlawful would severely chill free expression,” the lawyers wrote (PDF).