The Last Bush Era Obscenity Trial

The last of the Bush era obscenity trials finally made its way through the judicial system. Plan on not seeing anymore for a very long time. The type of porn that was produced by this sick individual reminds me of the stuff I did way back in the early 90s. Then, before the internet even came into existence, no one would have thought to sell such material openly on the commercial market. And that is exactly what this man was doing. He likened them to “home movies,” but they no longer became private or personal expressions when he posted them on the web; for the whole world to see. It is my contention, that the so-called main-stream porn-pushers are intimately aware of what the “extreme” pornographers are doing as they often co-opt the imagery and subject matter of these back-street guys and place them in their own more up-scale productions. It is the process in which these types of deviant behaviors gradually become de-scandalizing, and eventually accepted by the public.

A federal judge sentenced a Los Angeles man to four years in prison for making and selling videos that showed bestiality and women consuming human waste during sexual activity. Ira Isaacs, 61, formerly of the San Fernando Valley, was convicted of obscenity charges after a jury trial last year. His attorney, Roger Jon Diamond, said he will appeal and believes the videos Isaacs made are protected speech. "It's not mainstream porn. It is extreme," Diamond said. "But my point is no matter what it is, that's why we have a First Amendment. It's to protect the unpopular."

Starting in 1999, Isaacs sold explicit videos produced by others through several websites, prosecutors said. He called his business L.A. Media. Later - about 2004, according to prosecutors - he started producing his own videos, some of which Diamond said showed people eating feces and drinking urine. Other videos depicted women having sex with animals. He sold them on the Internet. The FBI and Los Angeles police investigated Isaacs, and two Justice Department units prosecuted him: the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section.

Diamond said everyone in the videos was an adult, adding that this fact often surprises people who assume that only producers of child pornography are prosecuted under obscenity laws. Diamond said the movies, which Isaacs shot with a handheld camera while also performing in them, are more like home movies than commercial porn. "There's no music; there's no costumes. There's no real plot," Diamond said.

Isaacs is free, but scheduled to turn himself in to the Bureau of Prisons. He did not speak in court, but later told Diamond he was glad he got prison time because it will bring more attention to the case. The case was launched by the Justice Department during the administration of President George W. Bush and was handled by prosecutors from Washington, D.C., who could not be reached for comment. The Supreme Court has ruled some obscene material is not protected by the First Amendment.

This was the third time prosecutors had taken the case to trial; the first two attempts ended in mistrials. In 2008, Judge Alex Kozinski recused himself after the Los Angeles Times reported he had sexually explicit photos and videos on a personal website. In early 2012, a second jury could not reach a verdict.