A Statement on the Withdrawal of Publication of Strangled

Genius Book Publishing is a traditional publisher based in Milwaukee Wisconsin. One of the genres that we publish and for which we have a good reputation is True Crime. In order to maintain our reputation and our good name in the true crime community, we contractually require our authors to be truthful, to use only verifiable and demonstrable facts, to not defame any person or organization, and not make accusations against any person or organization by name for any crime or wrongdoing they haven’t been convicted of. Our policy is, if one of our authors is caught in a lie or making up facts, we must question the integrity of everything they have told us, including the manuscript of the book published or to be published by us. Only twice in twelve years of publishing true crime has it been necessary to withdraw a title from publication based on misuse of the truth. 

The first instance was Doctor Lawyer Serial Killer by Connie Price and Rebecca Little. This title was published on November 4, 2019 and withdrawn from publication on December 12, 2019 when an interested third party contacted us to give verifiable evidence that the authors made false, misleading, and defamatory remarks, as well as provided Genius Books with forged documents that the authors insisted were genuine. When confronted with this verifiable evidence, the authors doubled down and insisted that their version of the facts was the correct one, and any inaccuracies were irrelevant. When we discovered the misleading statements and forged documents, we pulled the title from circulation within 24 hours, and cooperated with any interested parties who may have been harmed by the deceptive behavior on the part of the authors. 

The second instance is Strangled by LaDonna Humphrey and Alecia Lockhart. This title was published on October 28, 2022 and was withdrawn from publication on February 4, 2024 when Alecia Lockhart made demonstrably false accusations against Genius Books and her co-author LaDonna Humphrey about nonpayment of royalties. Upon investigation, we confirmed that Ms. Lockhart received all royalties due her in a timely manner. When confronted with this verifiable evidence, Ms. Lockhart refused to cooperate with clearing up this issue, and continues to make the demonstrably false statement that she was not paid. This called her integrity seriously into question, and we began the process of fact checking her statements in the published title, Strangled. To our dismay, we discovered that an accusation she made against a third party was false, despite providing that same statement to law enforcement, including the FBI. It was, in fact, her willingness to swear to the authorities regarding to these statements that led us to believe her. Strangled was withdrawn from publication within 24 hours of our learning of Ms. Lockhart’s deceptive behavior. At this time, it is our position that Ms. Lockhart has a very loose relationship with the truth, and Genius Books will not be party to the defamation of anyone. 

On the point of defamation, it is important that we point out that true statements do not rise to the level of defamation. In fact, according to the law, the truth is an absolute defense to charges of defamation. Genius Books holds itself and its authors to the highest standards of integrity, and we will not stand by any author, past, present, or future, who engages in defamation in any of our works. 

It must be mentioned at this point that one of our authors, LaDonna Humphrey, has a judgment of defamation in the public record, which would ordinarily and reasonably give us pause to work with her, but is in fact unrelated to her work in the true crime community. Ms. Humphrey was one of many individuals who accused her former employer of Medicaid fraud, yet only she was successfully accused of defamation. Anyone wishing to look up this judgment is directed to consider that the judge did not permit Ms. Humphrey to present her evidence, much of it from third parties such as the police, and the plaintiff was granted summary judgment without Ms. Humphrey being able to present a defense. Ms. Humphrey will be appealing this decision and we will be reserving our response until her evidence can be considered on their merits by a court of competent jurisdiction. We eagerly await the results of her appeal. 

Inquiries on this subject should be directed to contact the publisher, Steven Booth, via email or phone. 

Steven Booth

Publisher, Genius Books & Media, Inc.

+1-818-585-9945

GeniusBookPublishing.com