Court won't dismiss Roman Polanski sex case; 'He has to surrender himself'

[alp227]

Source: LA Times

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has rejected an effort by well-known director Roman Polanski to have all sexual assault charges against him dismissed in a three-decade-old case that spurred him to flee to Europe to avoid sentencing.

Last week, in its bid to end the case, Polanski’s legal team -- which now includes celebrity attorney Alan M. Dershowitz -- made accusations of "serious misconduct" by district attorneys and judges. The charges against Polanski have kept the filmmaker out of the United States as well as many countries that have extradition treaties with the U.S.

Polanski, now 81, was aiming to finally wrap up the legal drama that had kept him an exile from the United States since 1978.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-judge-rejects-polanskis-bid-to-kill-sex-case-from-1970s-20141224-story.html

[7962]

1. Good. You shouldnt get away with that just because you can afford to run. nt

[SylviaD]

2. Amen. n/t

[branford]

3. Unsurprising result, but still very good news.

I have very little sympathy that the CA arrest warrant is interrupting the movie directing plans of a man who drugged and anally raped a 14 year old girl.

[ripcord]

6. He is a disgusting piece of human shit

[Major Nikon]

8. Amazingly some people do have sympathy for him

Even though the fact that he drugged and raped a 13 yr old girl is not in dispute, even by him.

[branford]

9. She was 13, even better. Grrrr . . .

I think a lot of the dissonance involves the fact that he's an auteur, and artists are just not like the rest of us. Since we cannot understand his creative process or appreciate what he's accomplished, we purportedly have no business judging such greatness. To imprison him, would be to deny everyone his art. The world would be diminished in his absence.

Quite frankly, I dismissed such squishy reasoning from much of the film and celebrity community that I heard the last time he reared his pedophile head, and I will continue to do so.

As I see it, California will provide him a unique and special opportunity spread his art and skill among the general population at San Quentin or Fulsome State prisons. I imagine he would be very popular.

[msanthrope]

11. Run a Venn diagram on DUers who support Polanski and Assange. One circle

blue, one red..........

It would be nearly all purple.

You see....some men of the right percieved political persuasion don't rape.

[joshcryer]

14. +1

Throw Dominique Strauss-Kahn in there, too.

[daleo]

17. Cosby's not looking too good, either.

[tammywammy]

18. I've noticed the same

Rape defenders are disgusting.

[Paladin]

19. You know, I keep looking for rape defenders on these Polanski threads.....

...and I've yet to find any.

[EX500rider]

20. Then you missed the Polanski threads on the old Du..

Last edited Thu Dec 25, 2014, 03:19 PM - Edit history (1)

....there were many people in his corner.

[Codeine]

30. ". . . sexual adventurism with minors"?

You mean drugging and sodomizing children, yes? why couch it under a term like "sexual adventurism"? To me "sexual adventurism" is two adults at a swingers club, not a grown man forcibly ass-raping little girls.

[christx30]

33. I see the words "Sexual adventurism" and I picture

sex while hunt for the Ark of the Covenant while Nazi are shooting at the couple. Sorry. Carry on.

[HERVEPA]

27. bullshit.

[bemildred]

16. Yep. Predictable. The court will not listen unless he surrenders.

Once you run, that's the deal.

[LeftyMom]

4. Drugging and raping a teenager is still a crime if you're wealthy and famous.

No matter how long you've sat in France pouting about how you're too talented and important to be brought to justice.

[still_one]

5. polanski's case should not be dismissed, and neither should cheneys

[True Blue Door]

32. Not to be insensitive, but the two aren't even in the same cosmos.

I would pardon a thousand Polanskis if it would produce a Cheney indictment and conviction.

[TygrBright]

7. Glad they're catching up to Roman "Child Molester" Polanski. n/t

[cvoogt]

10. may he live many more years

in prison

[seabeyond]

12. Good. Keep his rapist ass elsewhere or prison to serve his sentence. Nt

[Codeine]

13. Good. Ass-raping a 13-year-old should have consequences. nt

[ninjanurse]

15. Could have been murder

Pushing alcohol and Valium on a child could have caused respiratory arrest. Would he still have defenders? Probably, as long as he can do favors for actors.

[NaturalHigh]

22. What really disgusts me...

is that so many of the Hollywood elite basically called the victim a whore and implied that the rape was no big deal.

From what I remember, there was really no question that Polanski was guilty of this crime. Personally, I do think that Polanski was a gifted director, but he deserved (and still deserves) to spend time behind bars.

If Woody Allen and/or Bill Cosby are guilty, they deserve prison time too.

[christx30]

34. Whoopi Goldberg said that

it wasn't "rape rape". It was about that time that I stopped listening to anything she had to say about any subject. That quote is all I can hear any time I look at her.

[reorg]

23. interesting that they had to dig up Cooley for comment

Kamala Harris still thinks this shit should be left alone, I suppose. I am not going to comment on her looks. But I will say that: she has a beautiful mind which you can see with the naked eye:



First Switzerland, now Poland have joined the club of those who find these extradition requests frivolous. Get your paperwork in order and tell the truth or leave him alone.

Now that you all reminded me of Polanski, I'm going to watch, again: The Ghostwriter. Entertaining and educational at the same time, it is about the deep state (in the US) and its obedient poodles and I highly recommend it!

[alp227]

24. Well, Cooley was actually DA of LA County back when Polanski was considered for extradition in '09.

Since Polanski escaped, the USDOJ (starting from the Carter administration all the way now to Obama) has always wanted Polanski to return to the US. And I haven't heard any California AG say otherwise (and state AG's can't interfere with extradition, a federal matter anyway.)

[reorg]

25. sure, I know

but Kamala Harris beat him although (or rather: because) she publicly distanced herself from the fruitless attempt to get him extradited which was initiated and vociferously supported by Mr Cooley, in an attempt to swing the vote in favor of him. If you haven't heard about it, you probably weren't listening in 2010.

[alp227]

26. Cooley really used "I was tough on Polanski" as a campaign talking point?

I was following politics actively in 2010 but missed that little story. Back in 2010, Harris commented about Cooley & Polanski by calling it "political maneuvering." Hardly true, since Polanski was arrested in Switzerland in September '09 at the request of the US govt, and Polanski had been filing for dismissal of his US criminal case throughout the year. (In 2005, the US successfully got Interpol to issue an international warrant for Polanski.)

In October, Polish police questioned Polanski (again at the US govt request). But because the US hadn't sent a formal extradition request, Polanski was released. (Given Polanski has dual Polish and French citizenship, it's next to impossible for the US to get either Poland or France to send him away.)

[reorg]

28. He was frequently interviewed while Polanski was imprisoned

and obviously hoped the extradition request would be complied with. Would have been perfect timing, Polanski would have arrived shortly before the election. I am not going to find the links for you but it clearly WAS political maneuvering. Kamala Harris OTOH was accused of currying favors with Hollywood, which I like to believe is complete nonsense, if not entirely off the mark since the vast majority of established actors did indeed support Polanski's view. Just like the original prosecutor who made the plea deal in 1977, just like Samantha Geimer, and just like every other rational person who knows the circumstances of the original case.

According to your BBC article, the US requested that Polanski be ARRESTED in Poland, not just questioned. And then they fail to even send a formal extradition request? IOW cannot comply with the necessary requirements such as providing the pertinent evidence and explanations? And still, they have to bully Polish authorities and see how far they can go ... Reminds me a little of times past that we hoped may be over. I applaud Polanski for standing up to such arrogance. Perhaps it also motivates him to make yet another good movie.

[Orsino]

29. Sex case? RAPE case.

He is accused of having raped a thirteen-year-old.

[1step]

31. Good!

Director or ditch-digger, he should have to face justice.