A Los Angeles judge privately told lawyers he would renege on his promise and jail Roman Polanski for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in 1977, setting the stage for the famed director to flee the United States, testified a former prosecutor.
A previously sealed transcript of retired assistant district attorney Roger Gunson’s testimony, obtained by The Associated Press on Sunday evening, supports Roman Polanski’s claim that he fled on the eve of his 1978 sentencing. because he didn’t think he was getting fair treatment.
Mr Gunson said in closed-door testimony in 2010 that the judge broke his promise to let Roman Polanski go free after state prison officials determined he should not serve a lengthy sentence . “The judge had twice promised him […] something he denied. So it wasn’t surprising to me that when he was told he was going to be sent to a state prison […]that he couldn’t or wouldn’t trust the judge,” Mr. Gunson said.
Roman Polanski’s victim testified before a grand jury that during a photo shoot at Jack Nicholson’s house in March 1977, when the actor was not at home, Roman Polanski gave him champagne and a portion of a sedative, then forced her to have sex. She added that she did not fight him because she was afraid of him, but her mother then called the police.
When the girl refused to testify in court, Roman Polanski pleaded guilty to having illegal sex with a minor in exchange for prosecutors dropping drug, rape and sodomy charges . The victim has since requested an end to the case.
Defense attorney Harland Braun said Friday — pending the release of the transcript — the development would renew its efforts to convict Roman Polanski in absentia, which would end his fugitive status. Me Braun has tried the maneuver before without success, with prosecutors saying and judges agreeing that Roman Polanski should appear in Los Angeles Superior Court to resolve the case.
The release of the transcript, which was ordered by a California appeals court on Wednesday after Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón dropped long-standing objections his predecessors had made to its release, could buttress Polanski’s claims that he was going to get framed by a corrupt judge.
Legal story
The legal saga has played out on both sides of the Atlantic as a recurring scene over four decades of a life marked by tragedy and triumph.
As a child, Roman Polanski escaped from the Krakow ghetto during the Holocaust. His wife, Sharon Tate, was among seven people murdered in 1969 by supporters of Charles Manson.
The 88-year-old filmmaker, who was nominated for an Oscar for Chinatown (1974) and Tess (1979), won the Best Director statuette for The Pianist in 2003. But he could not accept it, because he was in danger of being arrested in the United States. France, Switzerland and Poland have rejected extradition requests to the United States, and he continues to be celebrated in Europe, earning praise and working with major players. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, however, kicked him out of its membership in 2018 after the #MeToo movement sparked awareness about sexual misconduct.
Roman Polanski argued there was judicial misconduct in his case. In 2010, a Los Angeles court took sealed testimony from Roger Gunson about his recollections of promises made to the director by the judge in 1977. Lawyers for Roman Polanski, who were in the room when Mr. Gunson testified, but who were unable to use it in court, have long sought to unseal this transcript to help their cause.
Judge Laurence Rittenband, now deceased, had been swayed by the publicity in the case and repeatedly changed his mind about what sentence Roman Polanski should face, lawyer Harland Braun said.
After a report from probation officials that Roman Polanski shouldn’t be serving time behind bars, Judge Rittenband sent the filmmaker to state prison for a 90-day diagnostic evaluation that would help him determine the sentence. which he should face. The judge said that if Roman Polanski received a favorable report from prison, he would not serve any further time, Mr Gunson said.
After six weeks of evaluation in prison, Roman Polanski was released with the recommendation to do only probation, Mr Braun said. But Judge Rittenband considered the probation and prison reports to be superficial, said Mr Gunson, who agreed they downplayed or misrepresented the director’s crimes.
The judge privately told Mr Gunson and Roman Polanski’s lawyer that he had to be tougher because of the criticism in the media. He said he would send Roman Polanski to jail for a longer term, but then have him released within 120 days, which was possible under sentencing rules at the time. “Roman says, ‘How can I trust a judge who lied twice? So he flew to Europe,” Mr. Braun said.
Mr Gunson acknowledged during his testimony that the judge had the discretion to sentence Roman Polanski up to 50 years because there was no agreed sentence. But Mr Gunson objected to the “fictitious” procedure the judge was orchestrating and felt he had broken promises made to the filmmaker.
In search of a conclusion
The victim, Samantha Geimer, has long pleaded for the case to be dismissed or for Roman Polanski to be convicted in absentia. She went so far as to travel from her home in Hawaii to Los Angeles five years ago to urge a judge to end “a 40-year sentence that was imposed on the victim of a crime in more of its author.
“I implore you to consider taking steps to finally close this matter as an act of mercy to myself and my family,” Ms.me Geimer.
The Associated Press doesn’t usually name sexual assault victims, but Ms.me Geimer came out with his identity years ago and wrote a memoir titled The Girl: A Life in the Shadow of Roman Polanski. The cover features a photo taken by Roman Polanski. The director agreed to pay Mme Geimer over $600,000 to settle a lawsuit in 1993.
Mme Geimer, who has pushed for a judicial misconduct investigation, called for the transcript to be unsealed and, in a letter last month, urged the prosecutor’s office to take a fresh look at the case. .
Prosecutors have consistently opposed releasing the material, but relented earlier this week to honor Ms.me Geimer and be transparent with the public. “This case has been described by the courts as ‘one of the longest running sagas in California criminal justice history,'” Gascón said in a statement. For years, this office has fought against the disclosure of information that the victim and the public have a right to know. »
However, the prosecutor’s office did not say whether Roman Polanski would be able to avoid a court appearance. The press release says the director remains a fugitive and will have to go to court to be sentenced.