Revolting images and double jeopardy issues swirl around Judge Kozinski’s mistried obscenity case.
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Photo from website of U.S. District Court (W.D. Mi.).
The Ira Isaacs obscenity prosecution is the latest federal case — other than my own federal cases — that I have reviewed on PACER. The information I found there provides factual information — some linked below — concerning Judge Alex Kozinski’s recusal and mistrial orders from June 13, and about the prosecutors’ allegations of the beyond-disgusting contents of the alleged obscenity involved in the prosecution.
In July 2007, a federal grand jury in Los Angeles rubber-stamped, I mean returned an indictment against Ira Isaacs for alleged importation of obscenity for sale or distribution, transportation of obscene material, and improper recordkeeping to show that all actors in sexually explicit videos were over eighteen years old at the time of production.
Trial commenced on June 9, 2008, with jury selection, which was completed on June 10, 1008. During the parties’ opening statements on June 11, the media reported that presiding trial judge Alex Kozinski (also recently elevated to the chief judgeship of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit) had sexually explicit images at his alex.kozinski.com Internet site. Blogger Eugene Volokh — a friend and former law clerk of Judge Kozinkski — has an admittedly biased overview about those images here.
Judge Kozinski adjourned trial proceedings on June 11 to determine how he would handle his presiding over an obscenity trial when his own sexual image scandal broke out during opening statements. Two days later, on June 13, 2008 — apparently sua sponte, although he said he would entertain any motions by the parties to remove him from the case (Judge Kozinski apparently was a good pick for the defense, for his reportedly strong stance on many First Amendment rights) – Judge Kozinski issued an order stating: "In light of the public controversy surrounding…