Posted on 09/28/2009 12:47:16 PM PDT by CMoran325
Harsh words? Hardly.
First it must be said, Roman Polanski did endure unspeakable tragedies in his life. Forced into the Krakow ghetto under Nazi persecution, he and his father survived, but his mother died at Auschwitz. And years later, both his wife, Sharon Tate, and their unborn child were brutally murdered in an incomprehensible rampage.
AND the miscarriage of justice for his own unspeakable act, and the sympathetic support he is receiving from a certain sector, are just as incomprehensible to me.
For those who may have heard some vague account, it should be made clear -- Polanski was charged at the age of 44 with forcible rape by use of drugs, perversion, sodomy, lewd and lascivious acts upon and furnishing a controlled substance to a 13-year-old girl. He got a 13-year-old girl drunk, gave her half a quaalude (the "date rape" drug of the time) to further sedate her, and then raped her. (I think everyone who has taken interest in this case should know exactly what he did, so all the lurid details are recounted by the victim here.)
I would also add something I have not seen in most of the recent accounts of this case. He allegedly was disgusted when he asked if the 13-year-old girl was on birth control, and she said no. So he stopped regular intercourse and sodomized her so that he wouldn't risk getting her pregnant. How thoughtful. What genius.
The charges were dismissed under the terms of his plea bargain. The transcript shows that the sole reason the prosecutors agreed to the arrangement was that the 13-year-old girl and her parents were desperate to avoid the publicity of a trial. Polanski pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, and expected to be given probation. The maximum sentence he could have faced was 50 years, although prosecutors had said at the time that the typical sentence was 16 months to three years in prison.
Now, there has been a determination of wrong-doing by the now-deceased judge originally assigned to the case, who it seemed was dazzled by the limelight, and may have been set on handing down an unusually harsh sentence. (Of course, this would have been compared to the above-mentioned "typical sentence" -- which was far too lenient in my opinion.)
So fearing he faced the rest of his life in jail, Polanski fled. Now I don't have a total run-down of his appeals in this case, but I have found no story recounting that his lawyers tried at the time to have the judge dismissed in order to receive a more fair sentencing. It seems at various times all they have sought is probation, dismissal of all charges, or clemency.
Polanski unfathomably believes that the time he served -- about 45 days in jail -- was enough punishment for what he did. Actually, he probably thinks it was too much. He has never expressed any kind of remorse. And in his autobiography, he defiantly claimed that the 13-year-old girl was a willing participant. To this day the woman who was 13 at the time, although she has said she wants an end to all this and that he should not serve any jail time, categorically denies it was consensual.
And still there are throngs that cry for clemency. They believe he was a victim of a stage mom and an ambitious Lolita intent on fame, a judge looking for his own distinction, and (most laughably) a puritanical American society that just doesn't understand the looser mores of Europeans. He is an artistic genius, they say -- so that means we should excuse his criminal behavior?!
Even though psychiatric evaluations back then determined he was not a pedophile and not a danger, I beg to differ. He soon afterward had an affair with a 15-year old Nastassja Kinski, so this cannot be called a one-time indiscretion. (And who knows if there were other victims who never stepped forward?) Though maybe he wasn't a hard-core predator, he certainly did not see anything wrong with sexual relations with minors.
So yes, he may have directed some impressive movies -- I begrudgingly watched The Pianist because I wanted to see Adrien Brody's performance. I had to separate the director from the criminal, and I have to say it was an outstanding movie. But when I watched the Oscars, and Polanski won -- well, I was not standing up and emphatically applauding like Scorcese and his ilk.
So while Polanski's victim had to face inconceivable circumstances -- first his attack, the grand jury testimony, and then decades later an occasional return to this horrific spotlight -- her attacker fled and lived a life of luxury in France. Though thankfully she seems to have come to peace with what happened to her, that does not mean that Polanski should avert his long overdue punishment.
Not directing a masterpiece -- nor enduring terrible tragedies in life -- excuses despicable acts.
I think they've got it confused somehow with Clinton and Lewinsky. Can't we all just move on.org?
Polanski is a child molesting pig.
However, I do not think that LA County will be able to make the original charges stick and in the end the best the prosecutors will be able to do is to put him on probation for his flight.
After that Polanski will be able to enter the US legally.
Prey Pray for the presidential daughters.
Polansky ought to rot to death in prison, but I suspect he will be allowed to walk no matter what the sentence...after all, isn’t Kalee-for-NI-eah letting criminals walk because the union thug prison guards are too costly to keep prisoners in jail?
I don’t think they need to make the original charges stick, he’s pled guilty and then fled before sentencing. They can sentence him on the original plea bargain and add on for running.
The details from the Daily Mirror are enough if proved to send a man to the dungeons for 30 years minimum.
Yep. Put him in prison for he original offense, then carefully (but not hurriedly) file the other charges and move the process forward. Minimize any chance of sentences running concurrently.
Wow. I didn’t realize that the victim apparently (by the looks of the poster behind her) went to the premiere of “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired.” (The producers of that documentary declared they weren’t looking to exonerate RP, just examine the story and the legal maneuvers.... riiiiight.)
I don’t know if that’s really healthy of her or really sick.
Two words: Woody. Allen.
I take your really sick option.
Yeah he was really looking forward to his daughter's 13th birthday.
I know a girl who was date raped by this frat moron after she passed out at a party and although she was pissed off about it and told him off, she didn’t treat it like a soul-shattering thing or something that deserved police attention (I’m not trying to minimalize here. The way I took it she sort of blamed herself for getting wasted). Different women handle this kind of stuff in different ways. Of course, I’m sure there’s plenty of emotion she wasn’t displaying to her friends.
What’s her name and address( sarc.).
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