Roman Polanski's Lawyers Meet With DOJ, Argue Against Extradition

Wall Street Journal:

Lawyers for Roman Polanski met with U.S. Department of Justice officials to make their case against extraditing the 76-year-old fugitive film director from Switzerland to the U.S., according to court documents released Friday.

Read the whole story: Wall Street Journal

Comments

[Stephen P]

Anyone who thinks that Polanski is in prison due to the rape case, in being seriously deluded. If this was the case he would have been arrested many, many years ago. Why would he be arrested now? After 32 YEARS?

His arrest is no longer in the interest or for the benefit of his victim, who has repeatedly requested that the charges be dropped.

The real reason Polanski is in jail is due to his latest controversial film project, THE GHOST, which was due to be released this November. Whilst a work of fiction, this book exposes aspects of the Blair leadership which could seriously damage Tony Blair's chances of becoming 'President of Europe'. This would cause some difficulties for those working towards a ‘One World Government’.

How easily we are all conned and tricked by a few smart people, failing to look beyond the obvious to the very clear agenda. If only we stopped to give it a little thought.

[Intelligentia]

"Last week, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office told the appellate court it opposes holding hearings and an oral argument in Mr. Polanski's appeals case now that U.S. officials are pressing to have him returned to Los Angeles."

This the classic "Fugitive Disentitlement Doctrine" argurment and it is appropriate!

[robjh1]

He should be in jail! He is a Pedophile and Pervert!


"and we are not saved..."

[Cogs]

This would not be an issue if he didn't have money and clout. Do the crime. Serve the time.

[Freenation]

if this per.vert is does not serve time this would be one of the biggest mockery of justice...

[JBS]

He should be returned to California and made to serve the sentence he fled from years ago ... plus whatever additional sentence flight to escape justice rates.

But as far as mockerys of justice, he doesn't even rate in the top 100.

[RealHRCFansVoteObama]

It must be great to be rich, white, and male.

[Cogs]

Rich tops everything else.

[truthbagger]

White and male aren't that great.

[madisonhack]

There isn't going to be a trial for illegally having sex with a minor - he plead guilty to the charge in exchange for an extremely light sentence. He may have had standing for an appeal based on judicial misconduct before he fled, but he tossed that option pretty much out the window when he jumped bail and fled the country. That brings up the other issue - he will probably have to stand trial for felony bail jumping and contempt of court.

Jeez....the original charge was pleaded down to having sex with a minor from first degree sexual assault - rape.

How much latitude does his legal team think he's entitled to before he steps into LA county?

[roshni]

Could questions all. He pled down from what he really did to a trivial charge and did not even want to face sentencing for that. He felt entitled to flee the country before sentencing. He should have the plea bargain thrown out and start the trial over in a U.S. jail.

[writerjohnny]

The rapist was never sentenced because he fled before sentencing and the judge will have and probably use PLENTY of latitude in his decision to honor the original plea deal or not. The rapist and his attorneys can decide to forgo the original deal and go to trial but given the situation that would probably not be a good idea. As for the so-called "judicial misconduct" the basis for that has been thoroughly debunked. The DA who originally said he had discussions with the judge about sentencing in the documentary about the poor little rapist has recanted and said he lied in the documentary. Add on the bail jumping count and the contempt of court and oh yes, the rapist is going to jail.

[sexyrexy]

you guys really keep 'MISSING' the point here --{Polanski was in London when these aLLEGATIONS CAME About-- HE RETURNED TO lOS Angeles.. to give himself up.. HE D IDN'T HAVE TO.. he was met by his lawyers at LAX & went directly to the DA'S OFFICE upon arrival..

Hence, the plea bargain.. NOT EXACTLY THE Actions of a guy who was absconding..is it?.. ACTUALLY WE WERE EVEN SHOCKED HE RETURNED .. frankly..

so for him to indeed leave after?? SOMETHING WENT HORRIBLY WRONG.. with the DA & that judge.

[sexyrexy]

by the way-- RAPE was never even mentioned by the cops in 1977.. besides, there was a lot of unlawful sex with minors going on those d ays in this celeb. circles..

guess what?? IT STILL GOING ON..

duh.. and this situation is in no means unique..

as long AS THERE'S SHOW BIZ WITH OVERZEALOUS AMBITIOUS MOTHERS WITH STARSTRUCK TEENS?? IT WILL KEEP GOING ON.. as it did in the advent of Hollywood.

[OliverTwist]

I have not been following this. Why has this guy not been extradited previously?

[madisonhack]

He never ventured into a country that had an interest in doing it....until now.

[ObamAtomic]

He never went to countries where his extradition could be serve.

[truthbagger]

France harbors a lot of convicted murderers.

[jeanrenoir]

Plenty of great artists have been criminals. Big deal. Their art has nothing to do with exoneration. If they did the crime, let them do the time. Life is often sad and tragic. What else is new? It's always disgusting to see special pleading by celebrities for celebrities. No one should be above the law. He's made some great movies, but put him away.

[truthbagger]

Free Phil Spector!!!!

[Artemidorus]

The right to scape is internationally accepted to anybody under arrest.
After exercising it, Polanski was just plain stupid delivering himself to the lion's den.
There is no such a thing as a fair trial because of the general prejudice against any fugitive.
The extradition, if granted, it's a death sentence under bars.
Check THE STRANGER, by nobel prize winner Albert Camus.

[roshni]

He is not entitled to be a fugitive, so he should be sentenced and it should be additional time for fleeing.

[writerjohnny]

WTF? If by "scape" you mean escape there is no international right to escape. More to the point the protagonist in the novel you cite shot a guy 5 times and killed him for no apparent reason. 4 of the shots came AFTER the guy was on the ground. Then he didn't deny it. I'm not sure if ANYONE could get a "fair trial" given those facts.

[TimnySlagle]

It wasn't SCAPE scape...

[IWantTofu]

Good point. Polanski also didn't deny his crime. He plea bargained and pled guilty. There is no "fair trial" at stake here. Once again, he plead guilty. Then ran.

[werbenjagermanjensen]

Actually, Polanski's celebrity WOULD affect his ability to get a fair trial in California. Given the fact that O.J. Simpson, Robert Blake, and Michael Jackson were given free passes because their juries couldn't bear to put a star in jail, he'd have an excellent chance of walking away (and into a crowd of ruthless stage mothers eager to interest him their underage daughters.)

I can understand his victim's wish to just make this go away. As someone who was similarly abused when I was young, having this case in the news has raked up extremely painful memories that I really don't care to relive again. The problem is that Polanski isn't content to just stay in his French sanctuary and enjoy his freedom. He wants to relive his past, when he was an international celebrity and could jet around enjoying the world's adulation. Apparently his narcissism prevents him from understanding that that world has changed, and crimes like his are no longer automatically shrugged off for the simple reason that we've started hearing exactly what kind of serious damage it does to its victims and their loved ones who have to deal with the lasting consequences.

[IWantTofu]

No need for a trial, he pled guilty. The only trial we need is for the fleeing before he was sentenced.

[Gelfling]

We had no problem putting OJ in jail in Las Vegas.... Jus' sayin'...

[ramper]

Drag the pampered pedophile back.

[roshni]

Word!

[Smirk]

Give him some booze and a 'lude. He'll understand it's to make him more compliant.

[truthbagger]

Do they hand out KY in prison?

[themainpoint]

"...after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl. "
By TAMARA AUDI
Wall Street Journal

So it appears that Audi of the WSJ can't just call it what it is: rape. Unlawful sex with a 13 year old girl is rape and pedophilia===not "sexual intercourse."

Unbelievable.

[hidenout]

The WSJ was quoting the legal terminology to the plea Polanski copped. You know it is rape, I know it is rape, so does Tamara Audi. Apparently, everyone knows it is rape except the French and quite a few Euro Weenies.

Your anger is misplaced.

[themainpoint]

No. My anger is not displaced.

The legal definition of RAPE is "unlawful sexual intercourse. And journalists writing for the public should call things by their proper legal names and not their legal definitions that can be less clear and more confusing to average readers.

If a journalist describes a case in which x has been assaulted by y who intended to kill them, and they want to be clear, they write for the public (who are not all lawyers) that x "attempted to murder" y. They could make it less clear by using the legal definition of attempted murder and say, "someone had specific intent to kill Mr. X, actuated by malice aforethought." But why would they do that?

The writer from the Wall Street Journal had a choice to make, and in this case, he or she went with a technical description of rape (and not a complete one; see a law dictionary) that sounds much weaker.

The choice of "unlawful sexual intercourse" is especially out in left field given that we are speaking about a 13 year old girl.

[ObamAtomic]

Not to mention Sodomy.

[nick1936]

There should be no deals or talks of deals or meetings with the DOJ until his rear end is back in the United States

[sparkey]

The DOJ is just like the high priced call girl. Only the rich can afford to pay the price she demands. Roman will pay off the DOJ and will walk. Mary Jo wasn't rich and and justice couldn't be bought off. That's why she went to prison and Roman won't.

[roshni]

Too much scrutiny now, especially after the hoopla with the Swiss arrest. I think he'll have to come back to the U.S. to face charges, at least.