Tag: Roman Polanski (page 3)

A Swiss appeals court has denied Roman Polanki's request for bail.

Polanski has 10 days to appeal the decision on his release to Switzerland's highest tribunal. He also can continue attempts to persuade the Swiss Justice Ministry to release him. More court proceedings are expected after Washington files its formal extradition request, which it has until Nov. 25 to submit.

Polanski's attorney said Tuesday's decision was a disappointment. "It's probable that Mr. Polanski will appeal," Herve Temime told reporters in Paris. "I repeat that Mr. Polanski has firmly and strongly stated that he will remain in Switzerland during the entire extradition procedure, regardless of its outcome."

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Roman Polanski has lost his first bid for bail in Switzerland. Swiss Justice Ministry spokesman Folbco Galli said Polanski was too great a flight risk.

Polanski is also seeking release from Switzerland's highest criminal court.

Regardless of the court decision, Polanski will likely have to remain in prison for months as his case in the Swiss courts progresses. The Federal Criminal Court has said it will rule in the case in the "next weeks," and a verdict in either direction can be appealed to the country's highest judicial body, the Federal Tribunal.

French lawyer Ronald Sokol explains in an op-ed in the New York Times today why the Roman Polaski arrest doesn't sit will with him. It's a law-based article. the highlights:

Despite the certainty of guilt and the crime’s gravity, the prosecutor’s belated pursuit is both legally and morally troubling. A prosecuting attorney in Los Angeles has sought his extradition from Switzerland based on a treaty between Switzerland and the United States.

An extradition treaty is simply a written agreement between two countries whereby each agrees to surrender to the other country persons sought for specified crimes. The crimes include most felonies. It is normal practice for a nation not to extradite one of its own citizens. For this reason France would not agree to extradite Mr. Polanski, if it had been asked to do so, because he is a French citizen, but as he does not have Swiss citizenship and was arrested in Zurich, this exception does not apply.

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Marina Zenovich, the director of last year’s documentary, "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired" has issued a statement regarding former LA Deputy DA David Wells' recantation of his statements regarding his contacts with the judge in the Roman Polanski case:

“I am perplexed by the timing of David Wells’ statement to the press that he lied in his interview with me…. Since June of 2008, the film has been quite visible on U.S. television via HBO, in theaters and on DVD, so it is odd that David Wells has not brought this issue to my attention before.”

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Update: Polanski's defense strategy could work to keep him out of prison due to the allegations of judicial miscounduct.

Former LA Deputy DA David Wells then (paraphrased from the documentary, "Wanted and Desired"): I wanted Roman Polanski to go to jail. So I told the judge how he could sentence him to prison while avoiding the possibility of Polanski appealing. He did it. Months later, I showed the judge a photo of Polanski in Europe and told him Polanski was "flipping him off." The judge took it personally, as I intended, and decided to sentence Polanski even more harshly at the final sentencing.

Shorter version, David Wells now: I lied in the documentary. I never told the judge anything. He did what he did all on his own. I had nothing to do with it.

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I finished watching "Wanted and Desired" last night, with my good friend Anita Thompson, who is down from Owl Farm and staying with me a few nights a week for the next month or so as she takes the LSAT prep course in Denver. She was a toddler in 1977 when Polanski was arrested and hadn't followed the case.

Now, having watched the film, and listened to ex-prosecutor David Wells tell in his own words how he manipulated and advised the Judge behind closed doors how to get around a plea bargain in a manner that would prevent Polanski from appealing, heard the Judge state in his own words how he intended to impose an illegal condition on Polanski, watched as both the DA on the case and Polanski's lawyer separately tell, in their own words, the same story about the judge's misconduct, from making express promises he later renegged on to forcing them to participate in a sham hearing while demanding they not tell the media, listened to the victim and her lawyer describe, in their own words, how events transpired and how the Judge disregarded what was in her best interests, Anita too is appalled at how Roman Polanski was treated. [More...]

Director Roman Polanski has filed his request for bail. A Swiss official said it could take a few weeks to decide, and the decision can be appealed.

The D.A.'s office in Los Angeles denied the recent appellate ruling (or the current round of pleadings attacking the validity of the guilty plea and arguing over whether Polanski had to be present for a ruling) were the reason for the extradition request. They say it was simply a matter of opportunity, they had enough advance notice of when he would in Zurich via the film festival's press releases.

Ms. Gibbons, the district attorney’s spokeswoman, said the appellate court ruling had nothing to do with the extradition request, which, she said, was handled by David Walgren, a deputy district attorney assigned to Mr. Polanski’s case.[More...]

Free Roman. His lawyers say he will fight extradition and seek immediate release on bail. Both France and Poland are requesting for his release.

France's French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterand says:

"In the same way that there is a generous America that we like, there is also a scary America that has just shown its face."

If you have a streaming Netflix account, the film Wanted and Desired is available for immediate viewing.

Once again, here's his motion to dismiss filed in 2008. Here's the victim's declaration.

Update: Here is the Motion to Dismiss (pdf)and the Victim's Declaration (pdf). If you aren't going to familiarize yourself with the facts of the case, please refrain from commenting.

The Swiss have arrested Roman Polanski on an outstanding warrant from California relating to his 1977 prosecution on a sexual assault charge. They were laying in wait, as they knew Polanski, who had always been allowed to freely travel to the country, was en route to accept an international film award. CNN has more here.

France is outraged. So am I. Polanski has lived in France since fleeing the U.S. in 1978 after the Judge, at the behest of a prosecutor not involved in the case, re-negged on a plea deal and was going to sentence Polanski to prison instead of the agreed upon time served in exchange for his guilty plea. [More...]

Director Roman Polanski, now age 75, has filed a new motion to have the sex assault charges against him dismissed. His motion alleges prosecutorial and judicial misconduct, revealed in a recent HBO documentary on the case. The statements were made by the deputy DA on the case and a judge. The victim in the case, then 13, now 43, has wanted the charges dropped for years, and still does.

In a legal brief, the attorneys quoted heavily from the documentary, citing statements by former Deputy District Attorney David Wells in which he acknowledged advising the judge on how to sentence the film director, even though he was not assigned to the case.

The lawyers said that Wells' recommendation to send Polanski away for a diagnostic study was illegal without Polanski's lawyers present. They said Wells also inflamed the judge by showing him photos depicting Polanski with girls at an Oktoberfest party in Germany while he was awaiting sentencing. They said the photos were misrepresented.

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