Really?
Posted on September 27th, 2009 in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
They’ve arrested Roman Polanski?
Not to excuse what he did, but…the guy is 76, has been a refugee for 31 years, and got a raw deal from the legal system.
Polanski pleaded guilty to “unlawful sexual intercourse”; probation was the recommendation. But the judge began to maneuver behind the scenes: he wanted to look tough for the press, though not necessarily send Polanski to prison. He asked a reporter for advice on what sentence he should give; he gave regular interviews to a Hollywood gossip columnist. The day before the sentencing—despite an agreement with Dalton and Gunson—Ritterband was overheard bragging at his country club that he was going to lock up Polanski for the rest of his life. The next day Polanski was gone, his Mercedes abandoned at the Los Angeles airport. Even the prosecutor now says, “I’m not surprised he left under those circumstances.
Surely there’s a better solution to this than arresting a 76-year-old?
It’s hard not to think that Polanski, a Holocaust survivor whose wife was stabbed to death while pregnant—the killer just died in prison—has been through enough.
4 Responses
9/27/2009 5:56 pm
Could the timing be related to the pressure that the US has been putting on the Swiss in the bank secrecy disputes? a peace offering on the part of the Swiss?
9/28/2009 8:38 am
Sorry, but I need to disagree with your leniency here for Polanksi. While he may have had terrible things happen to him, that doesn’t excuse sex with a 13 year old girl. Complacency in our society is what allows such predators to run rampant.
9/28/2009 9:16 am
Beecham—the thought occurred to me too.
Roark-I’m against complacency as well, although I don’t hear of a lot of sexual predators “running rampant.” Regardless, I don’t think complacency was the issue here. Rather, as that Polanski documentary showed, the issue was excessive ardor—the judge’s— for prosecuting the director in order to make headlines for himself. Polanski’s 30-year exile is likely more punishment than he would have received had the judge stuck to the plea bargain to which he agreed.
9/28/2009 12:55 pm
Sexual predators are running rampant. The statistics speak: 572,000 computers have been serial IDed for child pornography. Only 2% are investigated because of a lack of trained personnel. The public databases of sexual predators are not updated as often as they should be. Unfortunately, there are not enough resources to catch these fiends even though law enforcers know they are out there.
While I think it’s terrible when people in positions of justice use the media to aggrandize their own standing, I hardly consider Polanski’s exile in France with his millions a severe punishment for the raping and drugging of a 13 year old girl. If he was in exile in Siberia, there might be have been a stronger argument.