Justice and Roman Polanski

Thirty years ago, Roman Polanski had vaginal and anal sex with a thirteen year-old girl. He claimed it was consensual, the victim claimed otherwise, and the law said something totally different. The law in virtually every state in this country is that a thirteen year-old child is incapable of giving consent to sexual activity due to that child's immaturity. Sex with a thirteen year-old, whether the thirteen year-old was willing or not, is a crime. It was a crime thirty years ago, and it is a crime today. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Polanski entered into a plea agreement wherein he would not be doing any jail time. He pled guilty to sexual conduct with a minor and awaited sentencing. Prior to the sentencing hearing, the judge ended up having an ex-parte communication with the prosecutor. An ex-parte communication is one made between a judge and only one of the parties to a legal action. It is not permissible under any circumstances, something which every judge and attorney is well aware. Word got out to Polanski about the ex-parte communication, and that the judge intended to reject the plea agreement because he wanted Polanski to do some jail (or prison) time. The smart thing to do would have been for Polanski's attorney to immediately file for a change of judge for cause, since the judge had an impermissible ex-parte communication with the prosecutor. It would have been no problem getting another judge, one who very well may have stayed with the original plea agreement. Instead, Polanski fled the country and has never been back.

For the last thirty years, Polanski has lived in France (which has no extradition treaty with the United States) most of the time, and Switzerland (which does have such a treaty) part of the time. Every time the authorities learned that Polanski was in Switzerland, they tried to get the paperwork in order to have him extradited back to the United States to face the charges from which he fled. But Polanski has either gotten wind of it, or never stayed in Switzerland long enough. Finally, this month, the authorities learned of Polanski's intention to go to Switzerland to receive a lifetime achievement award, and they had the extradition paperwork ready, which led to Polanski's arrest this week. He is facing extradition to the United States to face sentencing for the charge he pled to thirty years ago.

Roman Polanski has certainly led a difficult, tragic, and at times, triumphant life. He was a victim of the Holocaust as a child, and watched his mother be murdered by the Nazis. He survived that tragedy, and became a film director in his native Poland. His first great movie was "Knife in the Water," a challenging and highly enjoyable mystery/thriller. He eventually emigrated to America, and directed several highly regarded movies, including the horror classic "Rosemary's Baby" and one of the greatest crime thrillers of all time, "Chinatown."

He married a beautiful young actress/model named Sharon Tate in the late 60's, moved into a sprawling Bel Air mansion, and awaited his first child. While he was in Europe working on a movie, Sharon and some friends who were visiting her were viciously attacked and murdered by members of the Charles Manson family. The killers stabbed their victims multiple times and wrote cryptic messages in their blood. Sharon Tate pleaded with the murderers to spare her baby, but both mother and unborn child were massacred. Polanski rushed home from Europe to identify what was left of his beautiful wife.

For a number of years after that, Polanski remained in Hollywood, making movies and trying to get over the horror of the murders. His films were edgy and filled with violent images, and there was no doubt that he was using his art as a sort of catharsis. There was no denying, however, the brilliance of his artistry, which culminated with "Chinatown", which many film buffs to this day consider to be Polanski's best film and Jack Nicholson's best performance.

And then came the statutory rape of the 13 year-old girl, and Polanski's subsequent self-imposed exile. He continued to make movies from abroad, some good, some not-so good. He attained his earlier artistic heights with "The Pianist" several years ago, a Holocaust story which won him the Best Director Oscar, which of course, he was unable to personally receive. His Hollywood friends and colleagues clamored for his pardon and return to America. There was even a suggestion from a new judge (the original judge had since passed away) that he would give a fresh look to the case, and probably would not insist on jail time, which was consistent with what the victim (now a woman in her early forties) desired. But Polanski would have to voluntarily surrender himself and come to court. Unfortunately for him, he never did.

As I write this, Roman Polanski sits in a Swiss jail cell, waiting to see if he will actually be extradited to the United States. Many people, especially those on the left and in Hollywood, are screaming in indignation, claiming that an artist like Polanski, who has given so much and suffered so much, should be pardoned for something that occurred so long ago, especially since the victim herself agrees. Others are furious that the suggestion is even being made, and they insist that Polanski should be extradited and face punishment.

Certainly, Roman Polanski has suffered much personal tragedy in his life. It wasn't enough that he watched his mother be killed by the Nazi death machine and barely survived himself. No, he had to suffer the horrific murder of his young wife and his unborn child. My heart will always go out to him for that.

And I agree that Roman Polanski is a gifted and talented film director. His greatest films will live forever, and he has given us much. Nothing can take that away.

Neither of those points matter, however, in my opinion. Roman Polanski is a criminal. He took advantage of a young girl, and raped her, both vaginally and anally. He pled guilty and then fled justice, and has basically been flaunting his fugitive status, living in luxury in Europe for all these years. If one of my clients did that, you can bet that he/she would be brought back and punished severely. The same should apply to Roman Polanski, he should not get a free pass because he has experienced tragedy in his life and became a gifted film artist.

I especially feel badly for the victim in this case. The poor lady does not want to be the center of this media circus concerning an incident that happened to her three decades ago, she just wants to get on with her life. And while I sympathize with her wishes, this case is about more than that, it is bigger than just her. This is about justice, the American criminal justice system, and it is about right and wrong. It is wrong to allow Roman Polanski to get away with what he did. It is right to have him extradited back to to America to face sentencing for his crime. It just doesn't get any simpler than that.