LOS ANGELES – A federal judge refused to dismiss obscenity charges against a Hollywood Hills adult filmmaker whose first case ended in mistrial when the judge — who was found to have sexually explicit photos on his personal Web site — recused himself, it was announced today.
U.S. District Court Judge George King ruled that the original judge’s recusal and subsequent order for mistrial was proper and there would be no double jeopardy issue should Isaacs’ be retried, King wrote in a ruling issued today.
King also said he would not set a new trial date because he expected an immediate appeal to be filed and that would halt proceedings from going any further.
“If a timely notice of appeal is filed, we shall await the results of appellate review,” King wrote. “If no timely notice of appeal is filed, we shall set this matter for retrial.”
Isaacs’ attorney, Roger Diamond, said today he would appeal the ruling within 10 days.
“There won’t be a retrial until the appellate court acts,” Diamond said. “And we know how long that can take.”
Isaacs, 57, is charged with violating federal obscenity laws for distributing and producing graphic fetish movies. He faces a possible sentence of 20 years in federal prison and $1 million in fines if convicted.
In arguments before King on Sept. 8, Diamond said if Isaacs was tried again, it would fall under double jeopardy.
“We didn’t ask for recusal,” Diamond said of Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, who left Isaacs’ case and declared a mistrial on June 13. “Our position is Kozinski shouldn’t have recused himself. The plug was pulled.”
Kenneth Whitted, a Department of Justice prosecutor, argued that double jeopardy wasn’t an issue because the initial trial was never completed and a new trial date was set.
Kozinski recused himself after the Los Angeles Times described the judge’s personal Web site and its contents, which included sexually explicit photos and videos, the paper said.
Kozinski told the Times he thought the site was a private area to which the public did not have access.
After the article appeared and the mistrial declared, Kozinski requested a special panel of judges investigate his actions. There has still been no announcement of findings.