Ira Isaacs, 61, has been sentenced to 4 years in prison for producing, distributing and selling obscene videos. Last April, the self-proclaimed California "shock" artist was convicted of 5 felony obscenity charges at a jury trial in Los Angeles.

To determine if the video was art, jurors had to apply a 3-step test used in the 1973 Supreme Court case Miller v. California. The test asks if the piece in question appeals to prurient interest, if it depicts sexual conduct in a patently offensive way, and whether the piece lacks serious artistic value.

As in any obscenity trial, the jurors had to view the work in question to determine whether it has artistic value. Some of the films they sat through depicted bestiality and human excrement fetishes. The jury handed down the guilty verdict after deliberating for 2 hours.

In addition to his prison term, Isaacs also faces 3 years of supervised release and a $10,000 fine. Isaacs has pledged to appeal.

A judge approved bail for Isaacs at the last minute in late February so he won't have to sit in jail while the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hears his case.

The case against Isaacs resulted in two mistrials before he was convicted. One trial ended because of publicity regarding the judge, who was found to have posted sexually-explicit material to a publicly accessible personal website. The other trial ended in a hung jury.