LOS ANGELES—When we see Brandon Routh in a Superman suit flying through the air, we understand that Routh isn't really flying; that's "Hollywood magic." Likewise, when we see Tom Cruise diving off the side of a building in Mission Impossible—Ghost Protocol, we understand that it's not really Tom performing that jump; it's done with "Hollywood magic."
But the jurors involved in the Ira Isaacs obscenity trial were today also witness to a bit of "Hollywood magic"—and they didn't even know it.
The fourth day of Isaacs' trial opened with the showing of one of the two charged movies which Isaacs himself directed—and co-starred in—Hollywood Scat Amateurs 7. After voluminous scat-heavy trailers, the movie opens with cute little April b.j.ing a penis (which we later learn belongs to Isaacs himself) in a makeshift studio whose floor is covered with plastic sheeting, and studio lights and other movie-making paraphernalia are everywhere to be seen. After the young brunette finishes peeing in a bowl, she's directed to a plate on the floor piled high with "shit"—but although the jury doesn't know it, it is in fact nothing of the kind.
During a break in the testimony, Isaacs revealed to AVN that the plate actually contained a mixture of peanut butter and chocolate with "something bitter" added so that the performer didn't have to strain her acting abilities to find the stuff somewhat distasteful when Isaacs ordered her to hold it in her mouth and chew it up before being allowed to spit it out—all the while being referred to as a "toilet whore."
Before the movie's over, April has rubbed the stuff all over her face and body, even smearing some in her hair; she's scraped some of it into a toilet and told to blow bubbles in the toilet's water before taking some more of it in her mouth; to smear some on toilet paper, wad it up and put that in her mouth; and even to smear some on Isaacs' cock and lick it off—before licking and rimming Isaacs' ass. In the "finale," Isaacs fucks her doggie style while she's got some "shit" in her mouth, then tells her she can't leave until she's either eaten all the remaining stuff or rubbed it on her body. Viewers could certainly be forgiven for feeling they could use a shower after watching 90 minutes of that action!
The day's second movie, Hollywood Scat Amateurs 10, features April and her new partner Michelle taking orders from Isaacs, though the action in this one is mainly rubbing the faux shit all over their bodies before engaging in a little bit of pussylicking. It's only towards the end of the movie that the gals get to chow down on the stuff, often swapping one's mouthful into the other's by way of a kiss. It ends with Isaacs demanding that Michelle "tell everybody you're a toilet," which she dutifully does—with her mouth full of the "Hollywood magic."
Between the two movies, though, not much went on. Justice Department prosecutor Michael Grant had FBI Special Agent James Myrick describe his and his associates' search of Isaacs' office, which was then on Wilshire Boulevard, and Myrick's interview of Isaacs, who he said admitted that he owned the companies that sold the films, that he bought, sold and searched out new movies to sell, that he made some of the movies himself, and that he'd been selling them online since 1999.
On cross examination, Isaacs' attorney Roger Jon Diamond brought out the fact that Myrick had been a member of the Justice Department's now-disbanded Obscenity Prosecution Task Force, and that he spent most of his days searching for possible obscene productions on the internet—and that during his interview with Isaacs, the producer/retailer had been entirely "forthcoming" in his answers, and had admitted he'd done the things with which Isaacs was eventually charged in the indictment.
Of course, this was not new information; Isaacs has always admitted he sold some scat movies, and made and sold others, though his contention remains that he considers the productions to be art and therefore exempt from the pseudo-definition of "obscenity" contained in the Supreme Court's decision in Miller v. California.
But those admissions, and the legal stipulations agreed to by both sides that formalize the admissions in this court proceeding, are apparently not enough for the Justice Department, which has called three witnesses—Myrick; LAPD Lieutenant Kyle Lewison, formerly of the department's Vice Division; and computer forensics expert Matthew Lee Goward—to reiterate those facts for the record, with the witnesses detailing how Myrick and Lewison came into possession of the charged videos, or how Goward linked Isaacs' computer files to both the sales of the videos and the webmastering of Isaacs' various websites.
Just one "outside" witness was called: Marlayna Trickett, who served as Isaacs' secretary for about two years, and who handled the office's day-to-day activities of taking orders for the movies, duplicating them on the office's VCRs or DVD recorders, and sending them out to customers—including one she remembered quite vividly: James Myrick's undercover name, "James Kirk," which she said she couldn't forget "because I'm a Trekkie."
Trickett also cleared up one mystery when she testified that the Bronx, NY return address on some of the packages of movies she'd sent to customers was actually Isaacs' boyhood address, but she stated that she didn't know of any business of Isaacs that was actually located at that address. The testimony might have importance, because one of Isaacs' contentions throughout the trial has been that everything he's done has been totally above-board and out in the open, whereas the Bronx return address might suggest otherwise—or at least, that's likely how the prosecution will characterize it.
When court reconvenes at 8 a.m. Friday morning, the first order of business will be to play the final charged movie, Japanese Doggie 3 Way, again starring Mako, after which the prosecution indicated that its case will be complete. Isaacs himself is expected to take the stand after that, reportedly to explain his motivations in making the movies, though Judge George H. King cautioned him that, since he failed to qualify as an "expert" under the most recent Daubert hearing, Isaacs will not be allowed to refer to any of the movies' "artistic merits."
Sounds like Friday may be the most interesting day yet for this long-delayed obscenity trial.
