A top federal judge who is presiding over an obscenity trial in Los Angeles has been caught posting explicit photos and videos to his personal Web site.(File Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, June 12 (Xinhuanet) -- A top federal judge who is presiding over an obscenity trial in Los Angeles has been caught posting explicit photos and videos to his personal Web site.

    But Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said he thought the material on his Web site couldn't be seen by the public, the Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site Wednesday.

    Kozinski posted a photo of naked women standing on all fours and painted to look like cows, as well as a video of a "half-dressed man cavorting with a sexually aroused farm animal," the newspaper reported.    

    A step-by-step pictorial depicting a woman shaving her pubic hair and other images show masturbation and what the Times called "contortionist sex."    

    Kozinski, who has since blocked public access to the site, said he didn't believe the images were obscene.

    "Is it prurient? I don't know what to tell you," he told the newspaper. "I think it's odd and interesting. It's part of life."

    The revelation about Kozinski came as opening statements were under way in the trial of Ira Isaacs, a businessman accused of breaking U.S. obscenity laws by distributing pornographic movies that depict extreme fetishes, including bestiality.

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

    Kozinski said he began saving the sexually explicit materials and other items of interest years ago.

    (Agencies)