Some of you are way too complicated for me, but for my 2 cents i think the world would have been better off without his "brilliance" and perhaps improved if he had been made an example of when this crime was first committed. Hopefully he will suffer for the remainder of his days for what he did.
I don't know that the world would have been better off without his "brilliance", but it certainly would have been without his perversions.
If he had been dealt with back in the '70s, it would have been a good thing. Had he not gone on to make the films he did, I have no doubt the world would have continued to turn without them.
BUT. The films were made and stand on their own. They are very good films. Even so, they excuse nothing. I have no problem separating the man from the work.