John is an awarding-winning journalist with extensive experience covering the criminal and civil justice systems, human rights and global justice issues. He has successfully project managed and edited all facets of website creation, print production and editorial initiatives.

His book, America’s Trial: Torture and the 9/11 Case on Guantanamo Bay, based on more than a decade of in-person reporting from the U.S. Naval Base, came out Aug. 12. He has written more than 130 articles on trial and detention operations on Guantanamo Bay and won three New York Press Club Awards for his work.

THE BIO

As the co-founder of the legal media company Lawdragon Inc. and one of its editors, John has helped run the company’s day-to-day operations related to online and magazine content, website development and company branding. He has written and edited a vast number articles in the legal affairs space along with his regular coverage from Guantanamo Bay and features on international justice. In addition to his New York Press Club Awards, John was a Finalist in 2021 for Best News Reporting by the Society of Professional Journalist’s New York Chapter (The Deadline Club.) He was Pulitzer Center grantee between 2024 and 2025.

Prior to joining Lawdragon, he was a reporter for the Los Angeles Daily Journal. The Los Angeles Press Club named him a “Print Journalist of the Year Finalist” all three years between 2003 and 2005 for his coverage of high-profile national issues, such as the war on terror, the drug war, political corruption, corporate fraud, film and music piracy and disparities in criminal sentencing, among many other topics.

He twice won the Los Angeles Press Club’s award for “Best Magazine Feature,” once for his coverage of a pro bono effort to overturn a murder sentence and once for a story on a major religious-discrimination dispute. The Press Club awarded him a “Best News Feature, Runner Up” distinction for his feature story on the legal-defense efforts on behalf of accused terrorists Zacarias Moussaoui and Yaser Hamdi.

John moved to New York in 2008 to lead Lawdragon’s east coast editorial outreach. Since then, he has traveled to South Africa, The Hague, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Rwanda to research how post-conflict societies forge accountability mechanisms for war crimes and other human rights abuses — part of his longtime focus on international justice issues. Prior to entering journalism, he worked as a research fellow for a major arms control lobbying group in Washington, D.C. and as a researcher for a policy consulting firm. He has a MA in human rights studies from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study and a BA from Colby College in Waterville, Maine.

John is available for freelance projects that involve any combination of reporting, researching, writing, analysis and project management.