Roman Polanski loses latest bid to end U.S. rape case from abroad

[webfact]

Roman Polanski loses latest bid to end U.S. rape case from abroad

By Dan Whitcomb

REUTERS

 

FILE PHOTO - Filmmaker Roman Polanski walks on a corridor during a break of a court hearing in Krakow February 25, 2015. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo

 

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Filmmaker Roman Polanski on Monday lost another bid to end his 1970s rape case without serving more jail time when a Los Angeles judge ruled the French-Polish director could not seek relief from the courts while still a fugitive.

 

Polanski, who lives in France, failed to advance any substantially new arguments in the four-decade-old case involving a 13-year-old girl during a volley of recent legal filings and a hearing in March, Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon said.

 

Gordon, in a 13-page written ruling, said Polanski, 83, "cannot avail himself of the court while standing in contempt of it."

 

France, where Polanski was born to Polish parents, has refused to extradite the filmmaker, who did not travel to Los Angeles in 2003 to accept the Academy Award he won for directing the World War Two film "The Pianist."

 

During the March hearing Polanski's attorney, Harland Braun, asked Gordon to rule that his client had served his time behind bars in 1977, when he spent 42 days in jail while awaiting sentencing for the rape of a 13-year-old girl.

 

With that assurance, the director would fly from Paris immediately to the United States for sentencing, Braun said.

 

Following Gordon's ruling, Braun said the judge had failed to address the "central issue" in the case - emails that he claims show that the presiding judge of the Los Angeles Superior court had violated court rules by telling a colleague how to handle the high-profile.

 

"You're not going to find a word about that (in Gordon's ruling). He simply ignores it," Braun said. "Rather than lecture Roman Polanski and all the lawyers, talk about the emails."

 

Polanski's case has been a cause celebre for 40 years when, following 1977 guilty plea and time in jail, he fled the United States, fearing a plea bargain with prosecutors would be overruled and that he would get a lengthy prison term.

 

Polanski, whose films include "Rosemary's Baby," "Chinatown" and "Tess," was arrested on U.S. warrants in both Poland and Switzerland during the past decade but both countries ultimately declined to extradite him.

 

Victim Samantha Geimer has said she believes Polanski's exile has been punishment enough.

 

Braun has said Polanski wants to visit the California grave of his wife, Sharon Tate, who was murdered in Los Angeles by followers of Charles Manson in 1969.IDtag:reuters.com,2017:newsml_KBN176027:2

 

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Sandra Maler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-04-04

[248900_1469958220]

That would be the case where he raped a 13 year old girl after supplying her with drugs.....a charge he pleaded guilty to. The guy should have been locked up for a long time a long time ago.

Edited April 4, 2017 by 248900_1469958220

[wxpwzrd]

..."cannot avail himself of the court while standing in contempt of it."

 

This would be a good lesson for Thailand...

 

 

 

[hdkane]

Polanski has hardly been in exile...he's lived a luxurious life in France and the Swiss Alps...and continuing to work and make a fortune...all the while avoiding any real consequences for his behavior...A lesson some Thais have learned quite well.

[sambum]

1 hour ago, hdkane said:

Polanski has hardly been in exile...he's lived a luxurious life in France and the Swiss Alps...and continuing to work and make a fortune...all the while avoiding any real consequences for his behavior...A lesson some Thais have learned quite well.

Yes, there are similarities between this case and cases in Thailand involving high profile people no longer in the country!

[SiSePuede419]

He wants to visit the US?  

 

Fine, after Polanski gets out of prison, he can do all the sight seeing he wants. ?

[nobU eoJ]

Could there be some precedent here, as in the case of a Monsieur Thaksin, seems there are parallels here.

[elgordo38]

12 hours ago, webfact said:

Gordon, in a 13-page written ruling, said Polanski, 83, "cannot avail himself of the court while standing in contempt of it."

 

Geeze at age 83 let the guy sit in contempt of it. The girl involved has forgiven him. Now-married 50-year-old victim is still in touch with Polanski, 80


 

[Minnie the Minx]

Raping a thirteen year old after drugging her is a crime. 

 

Time, age, circumstances still does not change the fact that it was a criminal act. 

 

Let all those others out then. It's quite sick to be honest, if this guy wasn't a celebrity you know what the answer would be. 

Edited April 4, 2017 by Minnie the Minx

[saakura]

So was he an untouchable hiso who was deliberately allowed to escape the law or were the law enforcement so utterly lax that they let a self confessed child rapist who also drugged her, jump bail and take a flight out of the country? 

[Baerboxer]

1 hour ago, elgordo38 said:

Geeze at age 83 let the guy sit in contempt of it. The girl involved has forgiven him. Now-married 50-year-old victim is still in touch with Polanski, 80


 

 

Drugging and raping a 13 years old girl is a crime. This does not require the victim to press charges. Very kind of her to forgive him for whatever reasons. But, the law has been violated just as she was. And isn't forgiving. Well done US judge and courts.

 

What's appalling is that France, Poland and Switzerland all seem to think drugging and raping a 13 year old, which he freely admits, is perfectly acceptable if your're a rich arty farty celeb.

[elgordo38]

6 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Drugging and raping a 13 years old girl is a crime. This does not require the victim to press charges. Very kind of her to forgive him for whatever reasons. But, the law has been violated just as she was. And isn't forgiving. Well done US judge and courts.

 

What's appalling is that France, Poland and Switzerland all seem to think drugging and raping a 13 year old, which he freely admits, is perfectly acceptable if your're a rich arty farty celeb.

I just knew when I typed this one I would get a reply like yours. You make a point but water has gone under the bridge to the point where its source has dried up. If you want to be a prosecutor to the nth degree look into the assassination of JFK. You want an example of justice left hanging in the air strangled and stomped on there it is. 

[Minnie the Minx]

Relax.

[heybruce]

"In March 1977, film director Roman Polanski was arrested and charged in Los Angeles with five offenses against Samantha Gailey, a 13-year-old girl^[1] – rape by use of drugs, perversion, sodomy, lewd and lascivious act upon a child under 14, and furnishing a controlled substance to a minor.^[2] At his arraignment Polanski pleaded not guilty to all charges,^[3] but later accepted a plea bargain whose terms included dismissal of the five initial charges^[4] in exchange for a guilty plea to the lesser charge of engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse.^[4][5] "  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Polanski_sexual_abuse_case

 

Polanski was 43 years old when he gave this 13 year old girl champagne and quaalude and had vaginal, oral and anal sex with her.  He accepted a ridiculously generous plea bargain agreement and then fled the country because he was afraid he still might serve time.  Since then he's had a far better life than most of us.  I can't say I feel sorry for the man.  I don't understand why some people think 40 years of luxury is punishment enough.

 

It's worth nothing that he was a rich, famous and successful Hollywood director at the time. He would have had no trouble finding lots of hot young adult women willing to have sex with him.  He wanted a child.  I wonder if this was the only one.

Edited April 4, 2017 by heybruce

[louse1953]

42 days does seem a tad lienient Roman,for raping a minor.