LOS ANGELES, CA —Whether they love it or hate it, judges with a personal opinion about racy materials get the attention of attorneys – and 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Justice Alex Kozinski has certainly got the attention of the legal team hoping to send controversial porn director Ira Isaacs to jail. Kozinski, for those with better things to worry about, was pressured into recusing himself from the Isaacs case when it was revealed that the juror had a website that included a few risqué comics, photos and YouTube-viewable videos.
Isaacs, who was accused of depicting acts of bestiality and scat play, ultimately saw his case end in a mistrial. Prosecutors are hoping to re-try him on the same charges. Isaacs, who insists that his videos possess artistic merit, contends that a new trial would amount to double jeopardy and be illegal.
At Kozinski’s request, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court is investigating whether his salacious private website, which had not been circulated to the public, violated ethics laws. Prosecutors insisted that because the site’s contents “were at least thematically similar” to some of Isaacs’ videos, his presence as presiding judge was inappropriate.
Not content with Kozinski’s recusal, federal prosecutors, led by Matthew Friedrich, the acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s criminal division, are demanding that all 50 of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges recuse themselves from hearing Isaacs’ appeal.
The unprecedented request has legal pundits in a twitter, wondering whether the legal team expects each judge to reply individually or whether the court is supposed to resolve the matter collectively. Given that the request was made as a notice and not a motion, it is possible that the juror panel will choose to ignore it entirely.
Roger Jon Diamond, attorney for Isaacs, is utterly unimpressed by the gesture, calling it a “desire to embarrass the 9th Circuit” and observing in court papers that “It is a mater of common knowledge that political conservatives in Washington D.C., have been trying to split the 9th Circuit for years.”
Among the content that so riled Friedrich’s team was a video depicting a man having a joke played upon him by friends after being placed in a field with an aroused donkey, which he frantically attempts to escape from. The video was labeled “bestiality” by those eager for an Isaacs conviction.
