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One Way to Take Care of Business
Exterior of Swiss jail where director Roman Polanski remains confined, awaiting possible extradition to the US to face sentencing in Los Angeles for a 1977 case. (AP Photo/Keystone, Walter Bieri)
Director Roman Polanski remains confined in a Swiss prison following his arrest this weekend while traveling to Zurich to receive a prestigious award for his film career. The 76-year-old Polish-born French citizen has been in exile in Europe since fleeing Los Angeles following his conviction in the rape case that found him guilty of engaging in sex with a 13-year-old girl.
The next step for Polanski may be extradition to the US, which is what Los Angeles district attorney's office is pushing for, despite protest from both French and Polish officials, according to LA Now. Many of Polanski's colleagues, friends, and allies are outraged by his arrest, and believe it is being handled with a media-savvy sensationalist bent.
"The U.S. Justice Department has 60 days to file a written request for Polanski's transfer to Los Angeles. If Polanski opposes extradition, the Swiss legal process can be lengthy because multiple levels of appeals are available," a Swiss official explains. Polanski has indicated through representatives that he intends to fight the extradition; a warrant for his arrest has been outstanding in Los Angeles since 1978, when the director of iconic films such as Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby fled the country rather than accept his sentence in a LA County court.
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The question I have is: how hard is the DA pressing on Cardinal Mahoney's paedophile ranks? Would do more justice + make better use of taxpayers' money.
What recession?
This is a waste of taxpayer monies. Apparently its another attempt to bring some sense of notoriety to the prosecutors involved.
So this means all the un-processed rape kits have been processed, and all the rapists on the loose have been captured and prosecuted! Yay! Mission Accomplished!
Lots of facts omitted here, including prosecutorial misconduct and a corrupt judge who reneged on Polanski's plea deal at the last minute. I might've fled too.
I don't defend what he did, but the guy can't come back to the US and even the victim wants this to go away. I think he's paid a price. The man lost his parents in a concentration camp, escaped the Nazis, and had his wife murdered by the Manson cult. Leave it alone. Some prosecutor here just wants a fuckin' scalp to nail to their wall for when they decide to run for some shit.
hear hear ben bang... hear hear
From Salon:
Reminder: Roman Polanski raped a child
Roman Polanski raped a child. Let's just start right there, because that's the detail that tends to get neglected when we start discussing whether it was fair for the bail-jumping director to be arrested at age 76, after 32 years in "exile" (which in this case means owning multiple homes in Europe, continuing to work as a director, marrying and fathering two children, even winning an Oscar, but never -- poor baby -- being able to return to the U.S.). Let's keep in mind that Roman Polanski gave a 13-year-old girl a Quaalude and champagne, then raped her, before we start discussing whether the victim looked older than her 13 years, or that she now says she'd rather not see him prosecuted because she can't stand the media attention...
...Before we discuss how awesome his movies are or what the now-deceased judge did wrong at his trial, let's take a moment to recall that according to the victim's grand jury testimony, Roman Polanski instructed her to get into a jacuzzi naked, refused to take her home when she begged to go, began kissing her even though she said no and asked him to stop; performed cunnilingus on her as she said no and asked him to stop; put his penis in her vagina as she said no and asked him to stop; asked if he could penetrate her anally, to which she replied, "No," then went ahead and did it anyway, until he had an orgasm.
Look, Ben: You don't get to pay for a crime preemptively. There's no national karma bank where I can have a bunch of fucked up shit happen to me so that later, when I fucking rape a child, I get to pull the "all good, my bad" card and go home. And lest we forget, Polanski fucking raped a 13 year old girl.
Also, the man has spent 30 years living in France. That's like killing someone and being given a medal for it. France is awesome. I wish I could do something so terrible that my only recourse is life in France. Poor guy.
As for ommitted facts? HE RAPED A 13 YEAR OLD GIRL AND ADMITTED IT. That's the important thing to remember. It doesn't matter if she wants it to go away. It doesn't matter if there was prosecutorial misconduct. You might even argue that a plea agreement giving him 42 days in jail for raping a 13 year old was the midconduct.
Mainly, we, as a society, have a goddamned duty to prosecute sexual predators and you should be ashamed of yourself. Yes, ashamed, you rape apologizing rape apologist. Seriously. Ask yourself how you'd feel if he raped your sister, or girlfriend, or mother.
And it's never a waste of taxpayer money to make sure horrific crimes go punished. Better we get this 30 years later than see yet again how america is declining into a nation where being rich and famous is enough to get away with even murder.
Reminder: Thousands of Los Angeles rape-kits remain unprocessed and unprosecuted.
Is it justified to spend multiple times more on one person for the same crime that has happened to thousands in recent history that remain completely ignored, including around 20% who were raped by unknown strangers (a crime that is solved over 70% of the time by processing a kit alone), just because he is famous?
I've been hearing a lot about how the victim forgave him or exonerated him... what she actually said was that she can't stand to have her life her turned into a media circus one more time, which is not the same thing. I can't blame her for that but the system doesn't give up prosecution on the victim's say-so. I feel for her right now, having to hear the president of France and Harvey Weinstein and others talk about her rape as some minor dalliance that doesn't deserve to be punished.
The LA County District Attorney's Office is doing what it is supposed to do - removing a rapist from society. What is too unbelievable is that the US Justic Department can spare personnel to sit down with Polanski's lawyers. Really: Aren't there tons of more pressing issues that the Justice Department might want to reserve its time for? Or is there a special office in the Justice Department for those who want to go have their rape charges ajudicated outside of the local criminal justice system. To all of you twisted freaks who think the LA DA's prosecution of rape is a waste of time and money, I would suggest that it is absolutely perverse that our federal officials have given one minute of time to hearing Polanski's argument about why a little bitty rape shouldn't be held against him.