Film director Roman Polanski lost his bid on Friday to be sentenced without returning to the US when a judge ruled the director must be present in court if he wants to resolve his 32-year-old sex case.
Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza said Polanski was a fugitive from justice, adding that he was acting to protect “the dignity of the court.”
Bart Dalton, a lawyer for Polanski, said the ruling would be appealed.
Before the hearing, the judge provided lawyers with his 11-page tentative decision denying the request by the 76-year-old Polanski, who fled the US in 1978 after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.
Lawyers Chad Hummel, who represents Polanski, and Lawrence Silver, who represents victim Samantha Geimer, tried to convince Espinoza to change his mind.
But Espinoza cited a law that says someone who flees is not entitled to the processes of the court unless they return. The judge also cited the length of time Polanski had been a fugitive and the deterrent factor for others who might consider fleeing to escape justice.
Deputy District Attorney David Walgren argued vehemently against Polanski’s bid to be sentenced without returning to the US from Switzerland, where he is under house arrest and fighting extradition.
Espinoza, however, interrupted Walgren as he began to denounce the director as “this criminal, this fugitive, this child rapist.”
“This is not helpful,” Espinoza snapped. “I’d rather not inflame this proceeding.”
Polanski was initially accused of plying the 13-year-old girl with champagne and part of a Quaalude pill then raping her at actor Jack Nicholson’s house.
Polanski was indicted on six felony counts, including rape by use of drugs, child molestation and sodomy. He later pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse.
Silver stepped to the lectern at one point to plead for a resolution of the case, saying Geimer wants it to be over.
“I implore you to end the 32-year prolonged suffering of this victim,” Silver said, citing a state constitution amendment known as Marcy’s Law meant to protect victims’ rights in criminal cases.
“I don’t think it was ever intended for this use,” said Espinoza, who found that Geimer’s rights have not been violated in the current proceeding.
In court documents, Polanski’s attorneys said the late Superior Court Judge Laurence Rittenband sentenced the director in 1978 to a diagnostic study at a California prison where he served 42 days.
Although the judge told attorneys that would be Polanski’s full sentence, he later indicated he was going to renege on the bargain and give him a harsher sentence at a scheduled hearing.
Polanski fled to France and has been a fugitive ever since.
His attorneys said the judge’s promise is binding and Polanski has served his full sentence.
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
An American man identified as the son of a deputy director of the CIA was killed in eastern Ukraine last year while fighting under contract for the Russian military, an investigation by independent Russian media said. Michael Alexander Gloss, 21, died on April 4 last year in “Eastern Europe,” an obituary published by his family said. He was the son of Juliane Gallina, who was appointed the deputy director for digital innovation at the CIA in February last year. The story of how the son of a top-ranking US spy died fighting for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of
RSS