Director Roman Polanski appears at the international film festival in Krakow, Poland, 2018.
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Director Roman Polanski appears at the international film festival in Krakow, Poland, 2018.
AP
LOS ANGELES – A Los Angeles judge exclusively told lawyers that he would refuse his promise and jail Roman Polanski for having sex with a teenage girl in 1977, a former prosecutor testified, set the stage for the famous director to flee the US as a fugitive.
A previously sealed transcript obtained by the Associated Press late Sunday with testimony from retired Deputy District Attorney Roger Gunson supports Polanski’s claim that he absconded before sentencing in 1978 for he doesn’t think he’s getting a fair deal.
Gunson said in closed-door testimony in 2010 that the judge broke his promise to let Polanski go free after state prison officials determined he shouldn’t be serving a difficult time.
“The judge promised him twice…something he refused,” Gunson said. “So it came as no surprise to me when he was told that he was going to be sent to state prison … that he could not or would not trust the judge.”
Defense attorney Harland Braun said Friday – in anticipation of the transcript being released – that the development would renew his attempt to get Polanski convicted in absentia, which would end his case. his way a fugitive from justice.
Braun had tried that unsuccessfully before with prosecutors asserting and the judges agreeing that Polanski needed to appear in Los Angeles Superior Court to resolve the matter.
Release record, has been ordered by a California appeals court on Wednesday after Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón rejected longstanding objections his predecessors had made to its release, possibly supporting Polanski’s claim that he would be duped by a corrupt judge. waste.
The Legal saga played on both sides of the Atlantic as a reenactment of four decades of a life ravaged by tragedy and triumph.
As a child, Polanski escape from the Krakow Ghetto in the Holocaust. His wife, Sharon Tate, was among seven people murdered in 1969 by followers of Charles Manson.
Polanski, 88, who was nominated for an Academy Award for “Chinatown” in 1974 and “Tess” in 1979, won Best Director for “The Pianist” in 2003. But he was unable to accept the award because of his arrest. United States
France, Switzerland and Poland have rejected offers to extradite him back to the United States and he has continued to be sent into Europe, winning critical acclaim and working with the main actors. However, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expelled him from its membership in 2018 after the “MeToo” movement promoted a speculation about sexual misconduct.
Polanski’s 13-year-old victim testified before the jury that during a photo shoot at Jack Nicholson’s home in March 1977 when the actor was not at home, Polanski gave her champagne and a sedative, after that forced her to have sex. The girl said she didn’t hit him because she was afraid of him but her mother then called the police.
When the girl refused to testify in court, Polanski pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor in exchange for prosecutors bringing up drug, rape and sodomy charges.
Polanski has argued that there is judicial misconduct in his case. In 2010, a court in Los Angeles took Gunson’s testimony about recollections of promises the judge made to the director in 1977.
Polanski’s attorneys, who were in the room during Gunson’s testimony but were unable to use it in court, have long sought to remove that recording to help their case.
Judge Laurence Rittenband, now deceased, was influenced by public opinion in the case and changed his mind several times about the punishment Polanski faced, Braun said.
Following a report by probation officials that Polanski should not be behind bars, Rittenband sent the director to the state prison for a 90-day diagnostic evaluation to help determine what punishment he would face.
The judge said that as long as Polanski receives a favorable report from the prison, he will not serve any more time, Gunson said.
After six weeks of evaluation in prison, Polanski was released with the recommendation that he only serve a suspended sentence, Braun said.
But Rittenband thinks the probation and prison reports are superficial and a “whitewash,” said Gunson, who agreed they downplayed or perjured Polanski’s crimes.
The judge privately told Gunson and Polanski’s attorneys that he must be tougher because of criticism in the media.
He said he would put Polanski in jail for a longer period but would then release him within 120 days, which was doable under sentencing rules at the time.
“Roman said, ‘How can I trust the judge who lied twice? “So he took off for Europe,” Braun said.
Gunson admitted in his testimony that the judge had the power to sentence Polanski up to 50 years because no sentence had been agreed upon. But Gunson objected to the “fake” proceedings the judge was staging and felt he had broken his promise to Polanski.
The victim, Samantha Geimer, has long advocated that the case be dismissed or Polanski be convicted in absentia. She went so far as to go from her home in Hawaii to Los Angeles five years ago urged the judge to end “the 40-year sentence that had been imposed on the victim of a crime as well as the perpetrator. “
Geimer said: “I implore you to consider taking action to address this issue as an act of mercy for myself and my family.
The Associated Press usually doesn’t name victims of sexual abuse, but Geimer went public many years ago and wrote a memoir titled “The Girl: Roman Polanski’s Life in the Dark.” The cover has a photo taken by Polanski.
Polanski agreed to pay Geimer more than $600,000 to settle a lawsuit in 1993.
Geimer, who has urged an investigation of judicial misconduct, requested that the transcripts be unsealed and in a letter last month urged the DA office to review the case.
Prosecutors have repeatedly objected to the document’s release but refused earlier this week out of respect for Geimer’s wishes and transparency to the public.
“This case has been described by the courts as ‘one of the longest running murders in California criminal justice history,'” Gascón said in a statement. “For years, this office has struggled to release information that victims and the public have a right to know.”
However, the DA did not indicate that Polanski would be able to avoid court. The press release said Polanski is still a fugitive and should surrender before the court for sentencing.
