Legal News

Kozinski declares mistrial in obscenity case

By Jason Siegel

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Alex Kozinski declared a mistrial in an case where a Los Angeles filmmaker is accused of distributing criminally obscene sexual videos, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Kozinski removed himself from the case as a result of the public controversy that came his way, after the Los Angeles Times reported about a page on his Web site that included naked woman painted like cows. 

The Wall Street Journal's Law Blog provides a link to a letter by Marcy Tiffany, Kozinski's wife, which takes issue with the Times article, claiming that a tiny percentage of the photos were sexual but amounted to raunchy humor, not hard core porn.

Tiffany also claims the Times mischaracterized the content on the site as a website where Kozinski posted pornographic material. She says that the files were among a hodge-podge of material put in the "stuff" folder on their home computer by Kozinski and family members over the years, and was only accessible "if you know the precise location of a file."

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on June 17, 2008 (boomark / email).