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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TMZ

Celebrity Mug Shots

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Tags: roman polanski, RomanPolanski

Comments

(302)

Sunday 27 September

By jeff

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

There cannot be a statute of limitations on the case because he pleaded guilty already..he fled before the penalty phase of the trial folks..whether or not the victim feels she was compensated for the crime, the crime still has to be vindicated by the State..

By wendy

Attention: Pedophiles and rapists

France wants you! No punishment, so if you live in America pack your bags and go live in France!

Saturday 03 October

By Melissa

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A pedophile doesn't stop just because they are 76. Just because he has money and he paid her off does not mean that justice was served. How many more victims have there been that we don't know about and how many more will there be. It serves a terrible message when a person can run from the law or monetarily pay someone to avoid real prison time for horrific crimes like this. Plying a CHILD with alcohol while telling her what a wonderful "model" she is and molesting her all the while is despicable. I applaud Switzerland for stepping up to the plate and doing what other countries should have done long ago. Pedophiles cannot and do not change and I seem to remember reading that Polanski married a woman in her 20's while in his 60's and he has very young children. Let's hope they are not his victims also.

By Paula Dell

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Just to toss a little blame into the mom department, this poor girl's mom had pushed her into being a model and when she found out she had an opportunity to take pictures with Roman Polanski jumped at the chance to have her daughter do it. It was a "night time" shoot, in a bikini which turned into a party. In the pictures of the girl, some of which were in Vanity Fair mag, she looked like she was about 20. She also said in the interview that at the time she had had alcohol and drugs before. Clearly, this was a little girl who had a screwed up mom who should have been in the cell right next to Polanski.

Monday 28 September

By Sunfaccra51

Hmmm, anyone else wonder how long before the "blame the victim" bunch would start?
What part of "RAPE" don't you idiots understand?
Sure, go after the mom for putting her child at risk, no problem, but blaming the THIRTEEN YEAR OLD CHILD!!!???
You people seriously need help! I know, let's put YOUR kids wtih him!!!

By debra

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

YES IT WAS WRONG WRONG WRONG, BUT THERE IS STATU OF LIMITATIONS MOLESTATIONS HAVE THAT LAW I KNOW..FAMILY PROBLEMS OF MY OWN..

By Ralphie

All I got to say is IT"S ABOUT TIME !!!!

By DR. ELIJAH SAMUEL BAR-ELOHIM

POLANSKI IS AN ASHKENAZI OR SIMPLY NAZI, AS IS HIS ENTIRE FAMILY, SINCE THE BEGINNING. THEY ARE NOTHING BUT MURDERERS, LIARS, SUCH AS BLAME THEIR VICTIMS, FOR ALL THEIR DEVIANT THOUGHTS, WORDS, AND ACTIONS!!!

COMPLETE DESTRUCTION OF ALL SUCH SHOULD BE ENCOURAGED, AND CARRIED FORTH, AS RAPIST-MURDERERS ARE NEVER TO BE ENCOURAGED---PUNISH ALL EVIL-DOERS, IMMEDIATELY, I.E.!!!

JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED TO ALL THE VICTIMS OF THESE, THE SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN (REVELATION 2:9 AND 3:9). ANYONE WHO DOES NOT KNOW HIS-STORY IS DOOMED, PERIOD!!!

GET OFF YOUR LAZY POSTERIORS, AND STUDY!!!

STOP BEING COMPLICIT WITH POLANSKI, MITTERAND, SARKOZY, AND ALL OTHER NAZIS, WORLDWIDE!!!

DESTROY EVIL, RATHER THAN DESTROYING MORE CHILDREN, DISABLED, ELDERLY MOMS AND DADS!!!!

DESTROY POLANSKI, AND HIS ACCOMPLICES, ABOVE LISTED, IN THIS ARTICLE, NOW AND FOREVER!!!

DON'T DELAY, YOU PEOPLE!!!

By Kay

He is a cowardly rapst of a 13 year old girl. Sodomy? Shame on France for protecting him for 3 decades. Cochons!!!

By Tim

Who's Bubba? Anyways the man was 46, The innocent little girl at that time was 13 years old. (hello) wake up and smell the coffie. If the girl was paid off you know dam well the parents got the cash. (Guilty as charge).I don't kmow who Bubba is, But it
sure don't sound like a little Helpless virgin child.

By knarf714

The statute of limitations deos not apply wehn you have already been convicted. The man is a pedophile and rapist and deserves no mercy. He gets sympathy simply because he is in the entertainmanet industry.

By judy

Some of you need to read up on this case. First of all the mother pimped this kid out, sent her to Nicholsons house alone to take nude pictures of her 13 yr old. The 13 yr old never cried rape, she was bragging about having sex with him and her mother over heard her on the phone. There is a big difference between statuatory rape and rape. If the judge and DA had not lied and taken a plea and then decided to put Polanski in jail for 20 years after they made the deal he would have never took off. Blame the criminals in LA..they are as corrupt as anything can be and still are. They are chasing a guy down with out tax money, to stick him in jail for 60 days. OR get the whole thing tossed out because the "victim" wont testify!!!!!!!!!! BUt coudnt convict Simpson or Bonnie Bakelys murderer, yet spend hundred of thousands of dollars to get this guy???
The man is 76 and the sex was consensual and his big time attorneys are going to rip that LA judicial systems to shreds. The "victim" wants nothing to do with this and she wont testify so who are they going to get ? Ghost Busters??? Maybe if her mother had not lied thbis kids age this wouldnt have happened?? Where are the charges for sending your 13 yr old kid to a movie stars house alone to take "photos"??? Also where Polanski is from having consensual sex with a minor is not against the law.

By afemalefan

I agree with some of what you say, but you are incorrect when you say that sex with a minor is not a crime - it is. It is a "crime against the state" and is called "STATutory rape". It has nothing to do with rape, consent, or even the age of the "offender". Two 14 y.o. can have sex and both are committing STATUTORY rape. All the charges against Polanski were dropped, except for "intercourse with a minor". Most of the people commenting on this story don't understand the difference between statutory rape and RAPE. That assumption makes everyone who ever had sex before they turned 18 (or with someone under 18) victims of RAPE, which is a crime of violence. I doubt they would see it that way, though. RAPE victims, FYI, cannot force the state not to prosecute. They can only refuse to testify. There is no such think as consensual sex w/a minor. Even if married - as in the fundamentalist LDS types in Colorado and Texas, who married their daughters off at age 12 and the sons mysteriously disappear!

By alschrod

I'm suprised at the number of people not willing to forgive and forget. She has! And apparently not damaged too badly as a 13-year-old. Yeah, I know--a crime is a crime is a crime, but haven't we learned a few things in 31 years? Girls that age are initiating sex nowadays, and so many adult males have fallen victim to girls passing themselves off as older then threatenig rape charges for money. But everyone loves juicy news-- even retro stuff like this, so lets have at it!

By ead17

He got a taste of our California correctional system when they sent him to Chino, which just had a big riot. He wasn't overwhelmed by the hospitality. Due to the nature of his crime, and for crying out loud he doped and liquored up a 13 year old girl and then raped her, he knew that he would be a juicy target, and apparently no guarantees were given that he'd be safe inside the big house. Awkward, to say the least. I think he should have just done his time and taken his damn medicine. If God wants you dead, no one can save you, if he want's you alive, no one can kill you. This will make interesting court room television. He should spend a few years inside a cement box, if justice is served, and let him sweat it out, but I think they'll make sure he doesn't get shanked, it'd be bad publicity at this point, heck he's an old man. What a world.

By maureen

no matter how old the warrant is, (and the person for whom it was issued) it has to be "cleared" which requires appearance before a judge. only a judge can vacate a warrant.

By Sandy

One day or 30 years, victim okay with leaving it alone or not. It doesn't matter, he hurt a 13 year old child and ran. If anyone thinks the person he hurt has gotten over it you're dead wrong, it stays forever. She will live with it until she dies. She can forgive but she'll never forget. For this man to be able to live the life of luxury, be praised for his great work is horrible. I pray he goes to jail and I pray that some wonderful huge man decides to rape him then he can tell his story of just letting it go.

Do you know anything about this man or do you get your facts from AOL? He was sent to maximum security prison by a fanatical judge without being convicted. He was railroaded, but ultimately plead guilty and paid the woman a hefty settlement.
Do you know if he was raped in prison or not? Can you guess what happens to short-statured, Jewish artistic types in prison? Not only is he a holocaust survivor, his wife and unborn child were stabbed to death by Charles Manson's gang in the '60s. I have been an advocate for rape victims and even the victim in this case says the arrest is ridiculous-- she wants to forget the entire episode. I agree with her. They were very decadent times and the woman is over it. Polanski did the wrong thing but he was facing a psycho corrupt judge who threatened him and would have castrated him with a knife himself. Let it go. Get your facts, develop deeper understanding of the complexities of the situation and then let it go.

By debi

To those who keep saying it was consentual sex, you don't seem to understand the concept of statutory rape. It's saying the adult is legally responsible for his behavoir and taking the correct actions, because a child does not have the life experience to make those decisions for him or herself. Most states factor in small age gaps. There needs to be a lot more oversight in this industry, so children are protected, not only from the peodophiles but too often their parents.

By Uncageme

(Get a rope)

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