Posted on 01/05/2009 9:06:41 PM PST by nickcarraway
Is this “Chinatown” after all?
Lawyers for Roman Polanski, who fled the country more than 30 years ago on the eve of sentencing for having sex with a minor, on Monday asked that his case be moved from a Los Angeles justice system that they say is too seriously tainted by its own misdeeds to treat this Oscar-winning filmmaker fairly. The request, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, was the latest twist in an extraordinary bid to have the decades-old case against Mr. Polanski dismissed, despite his status as a fugitive.
Although this is happening long after Mr. Polanski admitted guilt in the original incident, the effort has raised uncomfortable questions about how justice operates in a legal system that has never quite come to terms with Hollywood, despite this city’s long, and growing, list of famous malefactors.
In the last year alone, Mel Gibson (wrapping up an earlier drunken driving conviction), Phil Spector (in a murder retrial), Mackenzie Phillips (who pleaded guilty to felony cocaine possession) and Dennis Farina (arrested with a handgun at the airport) were among more than a dozen celebrities caught up in the criminal justice system here.
Online mug shots and the courtroom paparazzi swarm are now part of a ritual that has become almost as routine as a red-carpet walk.
Yet Mr. Polanski’s case has only become more troubling over the years. That happened as tawdry details of his behavior — some of them described in grand jury testimony that was made public only in 2002 — were matched by accounts of official wrongdoing that occasionally seemed to mirror the tone, if not quite the magnitude, of dealings portrayed in Mr. Polanski’s Los Angeles noir classic, “Chinatown.”
The recent attempt to have the charges against Mr. Polanski dismissed rests on claims
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Things have gone so rotten here, he will probably get away with it.
Unsealed grand jury testimony. Polanski is a typical democrat:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/polanskicover1.html
Polanski is a sicko. He admitted to the charge and should stay a fugitive. What? The Oscars couldn’t make his guilt go away?
Polanski may be surprised. Obama may name Polanski to a cabinet level post to safeguard the virtue of young women, possibly co-czar along with Bubba.
This child molester should be thrown UNDER the jail for the rest of his miserable life.
I don’t care who he is.
The transcripts posted on smokinggun are entirely ‘she said’. There is, of course, a ‘he said’ side to the story that must also be considered.
My recollection of all this is that the girl looked a LOT older than 13 and that she passed herself off as being legal age.
It could be very easy to be fooled by a young but well-developed girl, into thinking she is much older than she actually is.
With hind-sight, it is easy to say that he should have asked to see her ID. But let’s get real. It would be very unusual to ask to see a girl’s ID.
What happened to Polanski could have happened to anybody.
It does happen to many young men & they are in jail or on Megan’s Law. If he is allowed back he ought to do his time & be on that list too.
Unless, as in this case, it was for a magazine photoshoot.
“You may think you know what’s going on here...but you don’t” I loved John Huston in that movie!
A dated joke; What goes into 13 six times? Roman Polanski.
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