By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, AP
June 17, 2008
LOS ANGELES - A federal appeals court judge under scrutiny for sexually explicit videos and photos posted on a personal Web site is the victim of distortions and "outright lies" published by the Los Angeles Times, his wife charged yesterday.
Marcy Jane Tiffany, wife of 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, described some of the material stored on the home computer as raunchy and juvenile.
Only about a half-dozen files among hundreds had a "sexual aspect," but they were not pornography, she said.
"Alex is not into porn - he is into funny - and sometimes funny has a sexual character," Tiffany wrote in a defense of her husband, posted on a Web site called patterico.com.
In a phone interview, Tiffany confirmed that she wrote the statement but declined further comment, except to quote late New York Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."
The newspaper's California editor, David Lauter, said in a statement that the articles were fair and accurate.
"The judge was presented with the facts . . . and was given a full opportunity to respond," Lauter said.
Meanwhile yesterday, US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts named five judges from the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Philadelphia, to handle the ethics probe into Kozinski's conduct.
Kozinski called for the probe after news articles about the Web site were published. Separately, Kozinski last week declared a mistrial in an obscenity trial over which he was presiding.
The now-blocked material on the Web site included a photo of naked women on all fours painted to look like cows, and a video of a man being chased by a sexually aroused donkey.
The Times said the site included images of masturbation, and a slide show featuring a striptease by a transsexual.
