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Fed. judge had sexual images on Website
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-06-12 10:04

Kozinski, 57, was assigned to oversee the trial in US District Court in Los Angeles under a program in which appellate judges occasionally handle criminal trials at the district court level.

"I have no comment on the merits of the story," Kozinski told trial attorneys, without jurors present, when they reconvened Wednesday afternoon at a 9th Circuit courthouse conference room in Pasadena.

Kozinski said he would consider any motion if either side wanted to take him off the case.

"I'm very sorry I didn't know about this before the jury was sworn," the judge said.

Isaacs' attorney, Roger Jon Diamond, told the judge he opposes recusal.

The prosecutor, Department of Justice lawyer Kenneth Whitted, said the government was conferring internally about its options. He said he would have an answer about recusal by Thursday.

Cathy Catterson, circuit executive for the 9th Circuit, declined to comment on whether Kozinski would recuse himself from the obscenity trial.

"It's a private matter of the judge at this point," she said.

Catterson said the material was on a home server that was maintained "for use by his family" and that it made up only a "small percentage" of the items, which also included pictures and documents of "personal family interest."

"Most of it was jokes," she said, adding that she had not personally seen the material.

"The contents are a private matter. It was not meant to be accessible by others," Catterson said. "He would have been more careful of the contents had he known what was on it."

Catterson said that after the story broke, the judge's son called Kozinski to say he had been responsible for uploading some of the material onto the computer. However, she could not say how much or what material was involved.