LOS ANGELES — Ira Isaacs, who was ordered to begin a four-year prison sentence, won't be turning himself in to prison officials today, his attorney told XBIZ.
Isaacs was ordered by U.S. District Judge George King last month to report to the Bureau of Prisons at noon today after he was convicted of five counts of obscenity by a jury last year.
In court papers filed with the district court this morning, attorney Roger Jon Diamond contended that Isaacs bail remains in effect until the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules on an emergency stay on sentencing. Isaacs asked for the appeals court to decide on the matter last week.
The appeals court, based in San Francisco, had not ruled at post time whether to grant Isaacs an emergency stay.
"Our position is that because he is not in custody, and because he is appealing the case after he posted bail [seven years ago], federal rules apply an automatic stay on his sentence," Diamond told XBIZ. "We are doing this with an abundance of caution."
Diamond in the brief said that Isaacs does not know what the 9th Circuit will do with respect to his pending bail motion.
"[But] he understands that since the rule provides that the bail would remain in effect until the court rules on the motion that there is no need for him to surrender," the brief said. "Defendant Isaacs does not want to be in violation of a court order and does not want there to be a warrant for his arrest."
