US judge had kept explicit website
May pose conflict in obscenity case
LOS ANGELES - One of the highest-ranking federal judges in the United States, who is presiding over an obscenity trial in Los Angeles, has maintained a publicly accessible website featuring sexually explicit photos and videos.
Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, acknowledged in an interview that he had posted the materials. Some of the material was inappropriate, he acknowledged, although he defended other sexually explicit content as "funny."
Kozinski, 57, said that he thought the site was for his private storage and that he was not aware the images could be seen by the public, although he also said he had shared some material on the site with friends. After the interview Tuesday evening, he blocked public access to the site.
Yesterday, the Associated Press reported that Kozinski granted a joint prosecution and defense motion to suspend the trial after prosecutors said they needed time to look into the issue. The jury was ordered to return on Monday.
"I'm not going to say anything. The trial is ongoing," Kozinski told a reporter as he left.
Kozinski indicated to the lawyers that he would be willing to recuse himself, but noted that the trial had begun and jurors had seen two of the graphic movies, according to the Associated Press.
In the case, Ira Isaacs, a filmmaker based in Los Angeles, is accused of distributing criminally obscene sexual-fetish videos depicting bestiality and defecation.
Stephen Gillers, a New York University law professor who specializes in legal ethics, said Kozinski should recuse himself because "the public can reasonably question his objectivity" concerning the issues at hand.
Kozinski said he would delete some material from his site, including a photo depicting women as cows, which he said was "degrading . . . and just gross." Kozinski said he must have accidentally uploaded those images to his server while intending to upload something else. "I would not keep those files intentionally," he said. The judge pointed out that he has never used appeals court computers to maintain the site.
Kozinski became chief judge of the Ninth Circuit last year. He was appointed to the federal bench by President Reagan and has developed a reputation as a champion of the First Amendment right to freedom of speech and expression. The judge said he began saving the sexually explicit materials and other items of interest years ago.
