Ex-prosecutor who took on Larry Flynt to retire

[September 16, 2011]  CINCINNATI (AP) -- A man thrust into the national spotlight for taking on Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt will retire after a 40-year career as an elected official in Cincinnati.

Simon Leis (lees) tells The Cincinnati Enquirer (http://bit.ly/p0xuCR) he won't run next year for another term as Hamilton County Sheriff. The 77-year-old Leis has held that job since 1987.

Earlier, he was the county prosecutor who obtained a 1977 obscenity conviction of Flynt, a conviction that was overturned on appeal. In the movie "The People Vs. Larry Flynt," Republican Leis was portrayed by Democratic political strategist and commentator James Carville.

As sheriff, Leis backed the county's 1990 obscenity prosecution of an art museum for a display of homoerotic photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe (MAY'-puhl-thorp). A jury acquitted the museum and its director.

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Information from: The Cincinnati Enquirer, http://www.enquirer.com/

[Associated Press]

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