According to a story in the LA Times Judge Alex Kozinski, 57, presiding in the Ira Isaacs obscenity trial has been caught with his trousers down, so to speak. It seems the 1985 Reagan appointed Judge had some naughty pictures and videos of his own on his own personal website.
The Judge had been presiding over the case involving LA businessman Ira Isaacs' distribution and profit from indecent pornographic material. The accused, if convicted could serve up to 20 years in prison.
The images on Kozinski's website were apparently viewed by two of the Jurors in the Isaacs case and were subsequently removed from the site by the red-faced Judge following the Los Angeles Times report on Tuesday evening. Apparently the extensive collection of explicit images depicted a half naked man cavorting around with an aroused farm animal. The myriad of other pornographic material included: a woman on all fours dressed as a cow, masturbation, public sex images, transsexuals and contortionist sex acts along with graphic images depicting a 'how-to' of women shaving their pubic hair. Not exactly a PG rated MySpace page!
The Judge, according to the report said he didn't think that the images were viewable by the public and that they were for his amusement and personal use.
"Is it prurient? I don't know what to tell you," he told the newspaper. "I think it's odd and interesting. It's part of life."when asked about why he had such images and videos he said that he "thought they were funny."
The court was adjourned until Monday and Judge Kozinski has offered the prosecution to, ahem, recuse himself from the case.
Not to go out on a limb here, but it seems to me that this may no longer be his decision. Mr Isaacs, also 57, faces four charges, the importation and transportation and sale of obscene material. Despite the seriousness of the potential outcome of the trial, if convicted, he and his defense attorney must be having a bit of a chuckle at the moment. I wonder if the Judge had any images from Mr Isaacs video collection? Oh, the irony!