Jan 28, 2013 3:15 PM PST    Text size: 

LOS ANGELES — The attorney representing Ira Isaacs has filed an appeal on behalf of the fetish filmmaker and distributor with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Isaacs was sentenced earlier this month to four years in federal prison on obscenity charges. He also was fined $10,000 and ordered to pay $950 in court assessments.

Attorney Roger Jon Diamond filed court papers with the 9th Circuit claiming that Isaacs is entitled to an appeal to have his convictions and sentencing tossed because the jury in his case was "improperly instructed," his own testimony was restricted and thus a violation of due process, and because he faced double jeopardy after two earlier trials on the same offenses ended with mistrials.

The federal appeals court based in San Francisco has not yet docketed the case.

Isaacs, in the meantime, has filed a motion for "in forma pauperis" or someone without funds, so that court costs of the appeal can be waived.

Isaacs said in the motion that he is barely surviving and does not have money to pay for the court fees and costs of transcripts.

By noon on Feb. 19, Isaacs must report to the federal Bureau of Prisons to begin his 48-month sentence.

Isaacs was found guilty last April on five counts of violating federal obscenity laws over the mail distribution of  "Mako’s First Time Scat, " "Hollywood Scat Amateurs #7," "Hollywood Scat Amateurs #10" and "Japanese Doggie 3 Way."