Simon Leis, Prosecutor of Mapplethorpe Show, Dies

Simon Leis, the former Hamilton County prosecutor and sheriff who led obscenity charges against the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) in Cincinnati over Robert Mapplethorpe's 1990 exhibition 'The Perfect Moment,' has died. Leis first gained notoriety as prosecutor in the 1970s by targeting obscenity, leading to the resignation of City Councilmember Jerry Springer over a prostitution scandal and convicting Hustler publisher Larry Flynt. As sheriff from 1987 to 2012, he pursued the CAC and director Dennis Barrie, marking the first obscenity charges against a U.S. museum for its art. The jury acquitted in two hours. Despite this, in 2010, Leis provided a police helicopter to photograph a community street-painting mural organized by ArtsWave (formerly Fine Arts Fund), where the author served as VP of Communications. The mural, 'Paint the Street,' involved 1,500 people painting six blocks in Over-the-Rhine. Leis's office sent a DVD of aerial photos, prompting the remark 'Sheriff Leis likes art.'