Roman Polanski's Arrest Could Lead to His Freedom

By PopEater / Wire Services Posted Sep 27th 2009 10:09AM

Police in Switzerland took Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski into custody on statutory rape charges that the director has been avoiding for more than thirty years. Polanski, now 76, pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a 13-year-old in 1977 in the United States, but fled the country before he could be sentenced and a warrant for his arrest was issued in 1978. He had been living in France ever since. However, one defense attorney believes the director's freedom is imminent.

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Celebrity Troublemakers

Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski was arrested in Switzerland on a 30+ year-old arrest warrant for statutory rape.

Getty Images

Celebrity Troublemakers

Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski was arrested in Switzerland on a 30+ year-old arrest warrant for statutory rape.

Getty Images

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"There was a valid arrest request and we knew when he was coming," ministry spokesman Guido Balmer told The Associated Press. "That's why he was taken into custody."

Balmer said the U.S. would now have to make a formal extradition request.

Polanski was scheduled to receive an honorary award at the festival when he was apprehended Saturday at the airport, the Swiss Justice Ministry said in a statement. It said U.S. authorities have sought the arrest of the 76-year-old director around the world since 2005.

Polanski fled the U.S. in 1978, a year after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with the underage girl. The director of such classic films as "Chinatown" and "Rosemary's Baby" has asked a U.S. appeals court in California to overturn a judges' refusal to throw out his case. He claims misconduct by the now-deceased judge who had arranged a plea bargain and then reneged on it.

The Swiss statement said Polanski was in "provisional detention for extradition," but added he would not be transferred to U.S. authorities until all proceedings are completed. Polanski can contest his detention and any extradition decision in the Swiss courts, it said.

Polanski has lived for the past three decades in France, where his career has continued to flourish, and he received a directing Oscar in absentia for the 2002 movie "The Pianist."

Polanski has not been extradited from France because his crime reportedly was not covered under treaties between the United States and France.

He has avoided traveling to countries likely to extradite him. For instance, he testified by video link from Paris in a 2005 libel trial in London against Vanity Fair magazine because he did not want to enter Britain for fear of being arrested.

In Paris, Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand said he was "dumbfounded" by Polanski's arrest, adding that he "strongly regrets that a new ordeal is being inflicted on someone who has already experienced so many of them."

Those comments referred to the fact that Polanski, a native of France who was taken to Poland by his parents, escaped Krakow's Jewish ghetto as a child and lived off the charity of strangers. His mother died at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp.

Mitterrand's ministry said Sunday that he was in contact with French President Nicolas Sarkozy "who is following the case with great attention and shares the minister's hope that the situation can be quickly resolved."

Polanski worked his way into filmmaking in Poland, gaining an Oscar nomination for best foreign-language film in 1964 for his "Knife in the Water." Offered entry to Hollywood, he directed the classic "Rosemary's Baby" in 1968.

But his life was shattered again in 1969 when his wife, actress Sharon Tate, and four other people were gruesomely murdered by followers of Charles Manson. She was eight months pregnant.

He went on to make another American classic, "Chinatown," released in 1974.

Classic Polanski Film Moments

'Chinatown'

'Rosemary's Baby'

In 1977, he was accused of raping the teenager while photographing her during a modeling session. The girl said Polanski plied her with champagne and part of a Quaalude pill at Jack Nicholson's house while the actor was away. She said that, despite her protests, he performed oral sex, intercourse and sodomy on her.

Polanski was allowed to plead guilty to one of six charges, unlawful sexual intercourse, and was sent to prison for 42 days of evaluation.

Lawyers agreed that would be his full sentence, but the judge tried to renege on the plea bargain. Aware the judge would sentence him to more prison time and require his voluntary deportation, Polanski fled to France.

The victim, Samantha Geimer, who long ago identified herself publicly, has joined in Polanski's bid for dismissal, saying she wants the case to be over. She sued Polanski and reached an undisclosed settlement.

Zurich Film Festival organizers said Polanski's detention had caused "shock and dismay," but said they would go ahead with Sunday's planned retrospective of the director's work.

The Swiss Directors Association sharply criticized authorities for what it deemed "not only a grotesque farce of justice, but also an immense cultural scandal."

Meanwhile, the AP reports that his arrest could lead to his freedom.

"I think he will finally get his day in court and there's a good chance his case will be dismissed or the sentence will be commuted to time served," criminal defense attorney Steve Cron said.

"The good news for him is he's been living under a cloud all these years wondering who would swoop in and arrest him. Now he can get this thing finally worked out," Cron added.

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Celebrity Mug Shots

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Tags: roman polanski, RomanPolanski

Comments

(302)

Sunday 27 September

By Tim Gibbons

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

There's a statute of limitations to be charged...but once you are charged and convicted, that conviction hold up forever. If you flea and don't serve your time, you are basically postponing it. And personally, i think they should just let it go too, the victim just wants it over, and it does take resources that could be used to catch violent criminals who are of an immediate danger. Unless he's been raping underage girls over in Switzerland, and nobody has said anything....I think it's time we let it go.

Monday 28 September

By shighley74

Low Ranked Vote down Vote up Report this

I got to agree with you on this...

By AmericanMade138

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

It has been 30 years since he raped and sodomized this girl , but how many others has he raped in that time ,while France turned a blind eye .

By MRS.E.

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

I HAVE DAUGHTERS AND THINK THIS WAS DEFINITELY THE RIGHT THING TO DO. BET YOU IF HE WAS BLACK YOU WOULD BE SAYING..."HE DID THE CRIME, HE SHOULD DO THE TIME"

By Kathy

I have to agree, if he took a 13 year old girl, used drink and drugs to incapacitate her and then did all those things to her while she protested against it, he should be held accountable whether he paid her in a private lawsuit or not. What if someone else did the same thing? Would they get off?

By pinkthenred

I don't feel sorry for him. It is he that has prolonged this.

By Dirty Logic

You suck, and anyone that thinks they should let this crime go is no better than a child rapist themselves.

By SusanJeanine

You think someone who rapes a child is not a real criminal? That makes me wonder about you.

By yuribeast

Ummm, if the district attorney (executive branch) agreed to a particular charge and sentence, can the judge (judicial branch) make his own decision on the sentence, or is the judge's responsibility to insure the trial is fairly conducted, and not introduce anything that either side has not initiated? Just curious...

By laineyb

A 46 year old having oral, vaginal and anal sex with a 13 year old IS a real crime, genius. Just because he managed to avoid arrest for so long does not mean he did not committ a crime. He admits he did, he should do the time. Pretty sure you would not be so dismissive if this was your daughter.

By steve46062

Even if they decide to drop the rape conviction, which they shouldn't, he should be brught back and charged with flight to avoid prosecution.

And it should not matter that the victim wants it dropped. He should be facing other charges relating to his jumping bail and fleeing to avoid sentencing. That's a different issue than the rape.

By Ashley

Child rapists aren't real criminals?

As a victim, the years of trials/hearings/CRAP that I went through was worth it in the end. I can relate to the victim because I was given a date rape drug without knowing and was powerless to fight off the man who hurt me.

He deserves to pay for his crime. He knows it... that's why he's been hiding for so long. It's an unforgivable and discusting crime. The victim deserves closure.

By nvonr

Vote down Vote up Report this

He,at 46 years old, piled a 13 year old girl with alcohol and a drug. He than sodomized her while she pleaed with him to stop.
He fled the US because he was afarid that he would be forced to serve more than 42 days in a country club cell for his heinous crime.

Sorry, but in my book that makes him a "real" criminal. As for France, well as much as I love vacationing there, I say f*** them for leting this sub-human live there for 30 years outside of prison walls.

If an American commited the same crime against a 13 year old French girl, his balls would be nailed to the door of the US Embassy.

By berg1928

The fact that this happened 30+ years ago is no reason to not be punished for this hideous crime against a minor. He was in his forties at the time! He fled this country to avoid the penalty for his crime and now - it's pay back time. He is not the victim!

Tuesday 12 April

By Cat

What I think is really unfair, is when Susan Atkins requested to be released from Prison after serving 40 years for murder was denied. The Public reaction was how could she even ask. Now, the same Public has a man who drugged and raped a 13 year old girl, has ran from serving any time for 31 years who feels like he should get a pardon from the president.
Tell me because he was able to avoid getting caught for 31 years, he should be rewarded or this case is old so it doesn't matter anymore. If this man does not have to do time just like anyother child molesting rapist, then I will know for sure that if you have money you can get away with murder.

By Tom

If there had not been a trial and conviction, the statute of limitations would have dropped off the case. Since he was found Guilty and fled the country and knew he was a wanted man....then you know he He needs to be a MAN and accept his punishment for his actions.

Tuesday 29 September

By Momski_1

The (man?) is pathetic! He forcefully had sex, oral, vaginal and anal, with a little girl of 13 yrs old!!! ANYONE who thinks he should be able to walk, let alone walk free, has no conscience at all. HE WAS 44 Yrs old, raping and sodomizing a baby-girl of 13 years old. He was coddled and PROTECTED by France, he hid in plain sight for all of these years like the chicken-sh!pt he is.
In 1977 I was 22 years old and did not care about news, (wow to be THAT young and innocent again). I'm sure I heard something but before cable TV, and computers in every household, instant news and TMZ, it just didn't register to me. This must be why I am so shocked that the world known polanski has been ALLOWED to make ANY Hollywood news OR $. If I had known this about him, I would have boycotted EVERYTHING that even allowed him ANY money, Oscars, or ANY reason to smile. This guy deserves EVERYTHING BAD that COULD happen to him. If it was up to me, he would be penniless,and toothless, on the streets of France selling PENCILS. Chicken-shift SOB!

By Duke

I wonder if there is a statute of limitations on this kind of case. I hope he is brought back here and spends the rest of his life in prison and has Bubba as a cellie.

By CeCe

He will probably receive the slap on the wrist that most celebrities are accorded. The idea of Bubba as his cell mate sounds like a just reward to me!

By Mitser Happ

There's no statute of limitations applicable here. And why should there be? The reason for such a statute is the right of the accused to have the prosecution either sh!t or get off the pot. That question has been answered for Polansky some 30+ years ago. He's the one who prolonged it by avoiding prosecution, which, by the way, he still indeed so richly deserves, despite the lapse of time.

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