Polanski

[BarTopDancer]

If you haven't heard by now, Roman Polanski has been detained by Swiss police in conjunction with the warrant here in the US.

Why now? He's been a fugitive for 30+ years, traveling freely through most of Europe even in and out of Switzerland (and aren't they supposed to be neutral?).

I have mixed feelings. On one hand, he was convicted and ran. If it was anyone else (not someone famous) they would have been caught/extradited long ago.

On the other hand, the charges of impropriety during the trial and the victim herself saying let the case drop because she doesn't want to deal with the media attention on her and her family... even if the case is dropped the media attention will never go away.

Thoughts?

[Alex]

No, the fact he was extradited from France was not due to his fame. It was due to his French citizenship. France does not extradite citizens.

As for why now, probably because someone was paying enough attention and pulled the correct levers to get Switzerland to do something when next he entered the country (Switzerland's "neutrality" is not of a form that includes granting asylums to accused criminals, it simply means that they refuse to participate in any outside war).

My view is that he got screwed (bad pun unintended) in the '70s when he reached an extremely lenient plea agreement and the judge decided he would not go along with it (whether that decision was for good or bad reasons I believe it is is entirely within his purview to reject plea agreements). At that point, Polanski should have revoked his guilty plea and gone to trial or negotiated a new plea acceptable to the judge.

Running was the wrong decision. Most of what has happened since is his fault for doing so. Should it be a priority case? Not really, but then I doubt it took much effort. You don't get to choose the life of a fugitive and then say that the stress of having been a fugitive was punishment enough.

I have no real strong feelings on how strongly he should be punished at this point for the original rape but as a matter of precedent it shouldn't be dropped simply because he successfully ran away for long enough.

[katiesue]

I read something yesterday to the effect that it was his own lawyers who kind of started this. They'd pointed out that the warrant has been out there for years and no one has ever acted on it - so they did.

[BarTopDancer]

I don't think it should be dropped because he ran away for long enough, or that the stress of living as a fugitive was punishment enough. That was his choice to make.

I do think that consideration should be given to the victim and what she wants, since she is going to be dragged through the media again.

I heard something - and I don't know how true it is, but that his lawyers tried to get the case dismissed brought the spotlight back on it prompting the action.

It seems odd that he was up for an award, in a country that he's been to many times, and had residence in is arresting him *now* instead of years ago.

[Strangler Lewis]

Now that the Swiss are giving us Polanski, maybe we'll ease up on the pressure for them to make their banks open their books.

[Alex]

Yeah, I'm sure the Department of Justice will soften up because Switzerland helped the Los Angeles district attorney.

But stranger things have happened, I suppose.

[The Lovely Mrs. tod]

I thought that after that HBO special on Polanski there was a move to dismiss the charges for a number of reasons including the victim's disinterest in pursuing any charges. But, and this is IF I remember this right, Polanski had to actually come HERE for this move to take effect. If he came here he would be arrested for jumping bail..and so on and so on.

I can argue both sides of this one with myself at this point.

[Alex]

Yes, the judge who reviewed the recent case for dismissal said he was troubled by aspects of the original judge's behavior but that to rule on the issue, Polanski would have to appear in court.

Which, obviously, he was unwilling to do unless he knew beforehand the outcome.

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by Alex

Yeah, I'm sure the Department of Justice will soften up because Switzerland helped the Los Angeles district attorney.

Of course the DoJ will soften its stance. You know the USA revolves around supporting and promoting celebrities and their antics. Duh!

This is being set up for the next reality TV show: Celebrity Fugitive.

[RStar]

This case aside, it's interesting what people will do for a few moments of sexual pleasure. His whole life was [drastically altered/ruined] because of that few minutes.