Photo of the Week and More on the Polanski Case

Here is the lovely photo of the week from our contributor, Andrea!  Thanks so much!

And things are not looking good for Polanski, although he hasn't completely given up yet:

Polanski absentia bid dismissed by California court

Agence France-Presse April 23, 2010

LOS ANGELES – A California appeals court Thursday quashed a bid by Roman Polanski to be tried in absentia for his child sex case, clearing the way for the director to be extradited back to the United States.

California's 2nd District Court of Appeal tossed an appeal filed by Polanski's legal team following a hearing in January, where the film-maker's request to be sentenced without having to return from Europe was denied.

The appellate court panel found that Polanski had "failed to demonstrate" that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza had lacked the discretion to deny the director's earlier absentia request.

Dismissal of the appeal removes another obstacle from the path of Los Angeles prosecutors seeking sentencing of infamous Oscar-winning director Polanski, 76, in his decades-old child sex abuse case.

Polanski is under house arrest in Switzerland following his detention last September on a US arrest warrant for having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977.

Swiss officials said in February that a decision on whether to move forward with Polanski's extradition could not be made until the director had exhausted his US appeals.

Authorities in Switzerland have however emphasized that any extradition process could take about a year once likely appeals by Polanski against his return had been heard by Switzerland's highest courts.

Earlier Thursday, the same California appeals court dismissed a motion by the victim in the case who had sought to have the proceedings dismissed.

The petition, filed on behalf of Samantha Geimer, was "summarily denied by order," court documents showed.

Geimer's attorney, Lawrence Silver, filed court papers last month asking the court to intervene based on alleged judicial and prosecutorial misconduct.

"Samantha Geimer was first victimized by Polanski. Whatever harm was done to her 33 years ago by Polanski is now a memory," Silver wrote.

In a 12-page response, prosecutors countered that Geimer "has no right or authority to dictate the outcome of a criminal case, nor is she entitled to examine evidence possessed either by the prosecution or the defense."

In January, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza denied requests by Polanski and Geimer to dismiss the case, along with a request by Geimer to order prosecutors to withdraw their extradition request for Polanski.

Polanski is alleged to have given Geimer champagne and drugs during a 1977 photo shoot at the Hollywood Hills home of actor friend Jack Nicholson before having sex with her despite her protests.

The director was initially charged with six felony counts, including rape and sodomy. The charge was later reduced to unlawful sexual intercourse after a plea deal agreed in part to spare his victim the ordeal of a trial.

Polanski later served 42 days at a secure unit undergoing psychiatric evaluation but fled the United States on the eve of his sentencing in 1978 amid fears that the trial judge planned to go back on a previously agreed plea deal.

Polanski's flight from justice came after a string of hit films including "Rosemary's Baby" and "Chinatown."

The director, whose wife Sharon Tate was horrifically murdered by Charles Manson's "family" in 1969, won an Oscar for his 2002 film "The Pianist" but was unable to collect the award because of his fugitive status.

Polanski has been confined at his ski chalet in the Swiss resort of Gstaad since being released from custody December 4.

Here is another article that says he will fight the extradition:

Polanski Will Fight Extradition, Lawyers Say

LA Weekly April 23, 2010

By Dennis Romero

Despite Thursday's setback in which a state appeals court turned down his request to be sentenced while he remains overseas, Roman Polanski said through his lawyers Friday that he will challenge attempts by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office to have him extradited from Switzerland.

Yesterday's ruling might have been the end of the line for the director's attempts to live a European life outside the reach of his 33-year-old sex-with-a-minor case: Swiss officials said they would not extradite him to L.A. until the sentencing matter was decided. Well, it's been decided. But attorney Douglas Dalton released a statement on behalf of Polanski that reads, in part, "The Court of Appeal decision yesterday did not decide the issue of extradition."

Besides bringing up an allegation of misconducted in the original 1977 trial, in which a prosecutor is accused of having inappropriately influenced the late judge in the case behind closed doors, Dalton did not say what further recourse Polanski's legal team would have in holding off extradition.

The director fled to France in 1978 after he says prosecutors reneged on a plea deal and the judge indicated he would serve more time than the more than 40 days he spent in psychiatric evaluation for having sex with a 13-year-old girl. He hasn't been back to L.A. since, but the D.A.'s office caught wind of a trip he had planned to Switzerland last summer to pick up an award and had him picked up. Polanski has been under house arrest at his Swiss chalet since December.

Emmanuelle Seigner Defends Husband, Samantha Geimer Takes New Position in Case, Polanski Being Compared to Nazis??? and More

This comes from The Washington Post site: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/21/AR2010012103180.html

Wife says Polanski is 'marvelous' husband

By ELAINE GANLEY - The Associated Press

Thursday, January 21, 2010; 4:42 PM

PARIS -- Film director Roman Polanski's wife said she "understands perfectly" that women have been shocked by the 32-year-old sex case revived by her husband's sudden arrest in Switzerland.

But she added in an interview with Elle magazine appearing Friday that in the 1970s, when the crime occurred, society viewed sex and drugs in a different light.

"My personal truth is that Roman is a marvelous husband and man," said actress Emmanuelle Seigner, 43. "He is an impeccable man and I have nothing to reproach him for."

The 76-year-old Polanski, who has two young children, is fighting extradition to the United States. The director was initially accused of raping a 13-year-old girl after plying her with champagne and a Quaalude pill during a 1977 modeling shoot. He pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse, then fled to France on the eve of sentencing in 1978.

"My husband never believed he was above the law. The proof is that he pleaded guilty...," she said.

Polanski was arrested in Switzerland on his way to a film festival in September. He was jailed for more than 60 days before being placed under house arrest Dec. 4 in Gstaad, Switzerland.

The woman who was the child victim at the time, Samantha Geimer, is supporting a motion by Polanski's lawyers urging that the director be sentenced to time served then - 42 days in a California prison for psychiatric evaluation.

Geimer's attorney, Lawrence Silver, faxed that position to other lawyers Wednesday, asking that Polanski be sentenced in absentia.

The director's wife said the 1970s were a "crazy time."

"The relationship to drugs wasn't the same, the relationship to sexual liberty and permissiveness neither," she said. "Today, public opinion has considerably evolved on the subjects."

Seigner described her personal horror after her husband's arrest.

She said she has had the impression of "falling into a well like Alice in Alice in Wonderland," and that each day the fall has been "slow and regular ... and this long fall won't stop."

Switzerland has not yet decided whether to honor the extradition request.

More of that interview is here:  http://www.theage.com.au/world/polanskis-wife-defends-him-over-sex-charges-20100122-mooo.html

Here is what Samantha Geimer is saying and wanting to do with the case now:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/01/victim-in-roman-polanksi-rape-case-expected-to-testify-on-his-behalf-in-la-courtroom.html

Here is what the prosecutors had to say about the above:

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=9629187

Polanski being compared to German Officers/Nazis?

I found this strange conversation that apparently appeared on the radio not too long ago (link: http://sweetperdition.wordpress.com/2010/01/20/awn-2009-year-in-review/) :

Sharon daVanport: I’ll tell you something that really caught my attention; I think it’s pretty controversial: Roman Polanski. He’s probably most famously known as Sharon Tate’s husband—Sharon Tate was one of the victims in the Manson murders. He’s been a fugitive for 30 years. They’ve been pretty split in Hollywood; he’s got a lot of pretty big Hollywood stars who have backed him, and said that they should just drop these charges.

He actually was charged with statutory rape, I guess in Los Angeles. He’s been on the lam for 30 years and was finally caught, and some people are protesting and saying: “Oh, they should drop the charges” just because it’s been 30 years. If he wasn’t Roman Polanski, would people be doing that? He had sex with a 13 year old: I don’t think so. Hello?

Tricia Kenney: It’s the same thing with those German officers. I don’t care how many years have gone by, and how old you are now. What you did was still wrong and you still should be held accountable for that.

Sharon daVanport: Right. And I was really surprised at some of the people in Hollywood who were saying: “We need to just drop these charges.” They’re trying to say that even the victim says she just wants to move on. Well, a lot of victims do. They just want it to be done with it; but it’s not up to them. It’s the law, and I think that he should be prosecuted. I really do.

Sorry but comparing Polanski to german officers or Nazis???  I think that's pushing the envelope a bit much (and I'm being sarcastic here), don't you? 

And saying that the victim's voice means nothing??? 

If it hasn't been bad enough that most of these people do not actually know the details of the case, now we hear this???

Here's to hoping that the Geimer and Polanski will have the upper hand!

I reported on Dennis Hopper the other day. I still do not know if Sharon and Roman knew him but here is the latest on him:

http://specials.msn.com/A-List/Dennis-Hopper-divorce.aspx?cp-searchtext=%20dennis%20hopper%20divorce

Larry King makes mistake when interviewing Debra Tate

Someone told me about this in an email.  I apologize, as I did not know that Debra was recently interviewed again by King but apparently so.  There was a big mistake in one of King's questions:

KING: Joining Lawrence Silver with us now is Debra Tate, Roman Polanski's former sister in law, the sister of the late Sharon Tate. On a persona note, I knew Sharon Tate. I had interviewed her a couple of months before her tragic murder. What do you want to see happen?

DEBRA TATE, FMR. SISTER IN LAW OF ROMAN POLANSKI: I would like to see this whole thing go away. I think that there has been a lot of time that has passed and we need to bring it to an end.

KING: Have you ever talked to Roman Polanski?

TATE: I have.

KING: How can you have a civil conversation with someone who so brutally murdered your sister?

TATE: Roman didn't murder my sister.

KING: I'm sorry. When the fact that he would have this terrible thing happen to him after the death of your sister, to once again focus you into the public light. That's what I meant.

TATE: I don't have any problems with Roman whatsoever. The actions that he took back then has logic that doesn't necessarily play out by the law, in my opinion. There are extenuating circumstances to this whole thing that have to do with legal improprieties. That is much bigger to me than the original offense.

KING: Did your sister love him?

TATE: Absolutely.

KING: And he loved her.

TATE: Absolutely.

KING: How was he doing when you spoke to him?

TATE: He was very concerned. He was very humble. He -- you know, he thinks that this is a tragic situation. Now he sees it a little differently perhaps. And that is purely my take on things. He didn't say it verbatim, but I could hear it in his voice.

KING: Was there an age difference between Sharon and Roman?

TATE: Yes, there was.

KING: How much?

TATE: Ten years.

KING: That's light by his standards, because he's been married to his current wife for 21 years. I believe he met her when she was 15.

TATE: Fifteen, 16 Years old.

KING: He had a romantic relationship with Nastassja Kinski when she was 15.

TATE: That's correct.

KING: You think he has an attraction for younger women?

TATE: I think in France it's a normal way of life. It's very well known that it's a right of passage. Younger women with older men, older women with younger men.

KING: Do you understand why people might not look favorably on it?

TATE: I absolutely do understand. I am a victim's rights advocate, and I deal with a lot of women that have truly been raped. I do understand it completely.

But this is just slightly different. And it's not up to me to bring that to public light. But there are circumstances that make it ever so slightly different than a full rape.

KING: Do you know Samantha Geimer, Larry's client?

TATE: I have never met her. Never.

KING: What do you make of her feelings?

TATE: Her feelings I absolutely understand, 100 percent. She's a mother. She's got her own children. This has got to put her, at this point in time, in a very uncomfortable position at best. And I think that it's very inappropriate on behalf of the LA DA's office, who I work with often, to pursue this case, especially in this fiscal climate. Perhaps there is an end we can reach without spending two million dollars on a trial, which is what it would usually cost.

KING: Where were you the night Sharon was killed?

TATE: I was supposed to be at Sharon's house. But a phone call, circumstances changed, and I stayed at my mother's home.

KING: You never get over that.

TATE: Never. Actually, I've never -- I get victimized in way or another over and over and over again.

KING: Did you talk to Roman soon after that?

TATE: Absolutely. Roman and I remained very close for many, many years. We still are. I flew to London and testified in her majesty's high court against "Conde Nast Magazine." He won that. I went to Paris and spent some time with them. It's like time lapsed.

KING: Does he have a happy marriage now?

TATE: He has a wonderful wife, happy marriage. Beautiful, bright, brilliant children.

KING: Debra, you are involved with standing up for victims?

TATE: I am involved with standing up for victims.

KING: In this care, your brother-in-law caused the victim to be a victim?

TATE: To tell you the truth, Larry, I believe that at this point in time there are victims on both sides of the fence. There's victims in our -- in our legal system, that have been taken advantage of, on both sides. There are perpetrators. Who's wearing the white hats? Who's wearing the black hats? It is all mixed these days. It is getting unclearer.

KING: What do you know about his health, Debra? There are reports he is in ill health.

TATE: He was not in good health in the beginning of this ordeal. But he is bouncing back ever so slightly. He is very concerned. And he is not taking this lightly, by any stretch of the imagination.

KING: Would he come back if this got cleared?

TATE: I can't say that. I would like him to come back. He is my -- basically my only family member left on Earth, other than my daughter. So, I would like him to come back, but I doubt it. I doubt it.

KING: Who in the populace is most upset, Debra, at the idea of Polanski getting some sort of deal? Is there still a large movement out there?


TATE: Evidently there is a very large movement. I catch a lot of riff for taking the position that I take. However, people weren't around at that time. I was. I do know the details and the circumstances, of which -- I'm not an attorney, so I'm not in that playing field.

But I do believe that there were exceptions that a fair court should take into consideration. And even as a victim's right advocate, I'm not necessarily in line with the current three strikes laws, the way they are, and so on and so forth. I think that we are definitely over-penalized in the state of California. And we need to recheck things.

Prison is -- incarceration is the number one business in the state of California now.

For the complete story with interviews with Lawrence Silver (Geimer's Attorney), and Samantha Geimer herself and more go to:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1001/06/lkl.01.html