Appellate Court Upholds Obscenity Conviction of Fetish Filmmaker

A federal appeals court today upheld the convictions of a Hollywood Hills fetish filmmaker who was sentenced to four years in prison for producing obscene material and mailing it across state lines.

A Los Angeles jury convicted Ira Isaacs in April 2012 of five counts connected to the production, sales and shipping of the films "Mako's First Time Scat," two volumes of "Hollywood Scat Amateurs" and "Japanese Doggie 3 Way." Two earlier trials were declared mistrials.

Jurors were shown the four films, which feature bestiality and defecation.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena rejected Isaacs' arguments that the lower court made errors in regard to jury instructions and abused its discretion by excluding the defendant's proposed expert testimony.

Defense attorney Roger Jon Diamond said he would discuss with Isaacs whether to file a petition for rehearing before the full 11-judge appeals panel.

Isaacs has spent no time behind bars since the convictions.

The first case in 2008 ended in a mistrial when the judge recused himself after it was revealed that he had posted sexually explicit photos on his personal website.

A second mistrial was declared after the panel voted 10-2 in favor of conviction.

The case against Isaacs was originally brought in 2007 by Department of Justice prosecutors with the now-defunct Obscenity Prosecution Task Force. Isaacs was charged under an updated indictment in 2011.

"This case is a relic from the George W. Bush days," Diamond said. "It's been a big waste of money and resources."

---City News Service