45 years a fugitive: How Roman Polanski FLED the US after child rape conviction
Unsealed documents from the 45-year-old case of Roman Polanski have revealed that the Polish-French film director fled Los Angeles for France in 1978 on the eve of his sentencing for the rape of a 13-year-old girl. The judge in the case had reportedly privately reneged on a promise not to jail him. Polanski, 88, reportedly had sex with Samantha Geimer, then 13, at Jack Nicholson's house in 1977. She later told police that he gave her a sedative then forced her into sex. The incident was later reported to police by her mother.
Polanski was due to be sentenced to probation by Judge Laurence Rittenband back in 1978. However, he discovered that the judge had instead planned to jail him for for up to 120 days. Rittenband had said at the time that he needed to be tougher on Polanski, who was 45 at the time. Rittenband died in 1993.
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Roman Polanski, afraid that he could be jailed for a longer period, fled to France. He has been in Europe ever since, trying to escape being sentenced in absentia or extradited to the US as a fugitive. The case is now being revisited.
The documents, that have been unsealed now, are reportedly hundreds of pages of testimony from former Deputy District Attorney Roger Gunson. They were unsealed after journalists requested that the papers be made public. Polanski also wanted the papers to be made public so judicial misconduct could be proven. Geimer, who is now 59 years old, wants the case to be dismissed.
LA DA George Gascon agreed to unseal the documents last week. "The suspicion has been around this case for 40 years. Many people are suspicious that something untoward occurred. We share that curiosity and that concern," one of his advisers told Variety. The California Court of Appeals in Los Angeles demanded that they be unsealed shortly after.
Gunson testified in 2010 at the request of Polanski's legal team. The testimony apparently confirmed that the judge behaved improperly and also revealed that prosecutors, Polanski and the victim were dissatisfied. "The judge had promised him on two occasions... something that he reneged on. So it wasn´t surprising to me that, when he was told he was going to be sent off to state prison... that he could not or would not trust the judge," Gunson said.
He claimed that Rittenband was influenced by the media and celebrities, and took advice on the case from "all over the place." Gunson said that it was wrong for the judge to renege on his promise of a light sentence. It was also wrong, he said, for Rittenband to have offered Polanski the deal in the first place. Pointing at other flaws in the investigation, he claimed that cops who went to Nicholson's home actually took photos with the actor's Oscars. Polanski's attorneys are trying to ensure he is sentenced in absentia as it would end his present status as a fugitive. They are trying to make sure that he is handed a time served sentence.
Geimer meanwhile won $600,000 from Polanski in a civil settlement. She has said that she wants the case to be dropped. She claimed that at the time of the alleged crime, he did not fight back as she feared Polanski. The director later pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor in exchange for prosecutors dropping drug, rape and sodomy charges.
Polanski was sent to state prison by Rittenband for 90 days is 1078. He spent 42 days there for a psychiatric evaluation, and was eventually given a recommendation from the prison that he should not serve any additional time. Gunson saod that Rittenband thought the recommendation was "whitewash" and decided to sentence him to 120 days in prison. However, he claimed that he would get him out sooner. The judge, in fact, had discretion to sentence Polanski up to 50 years as there had been no agreed-upon sentence, Gunson said. Polanski subsequently fled.
Geimer traveled from her home in Hawaii to Los Angeles in 2017 tp urge a judge to end the sentence. "'I implore you to consider taking action to finally bring this matter to a close as an act of mercy to myself and my family," she had said. She urged Gascon to agree to the documents being unsealed.
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Finally agreeing, Gascon said in a statement, "This case has been described by the courts as one of the longest-running sagas in California criminal justice history. For years, this office has fought the release of information that the victim and public have a right to know." The California Appeals Court subsequently demanded that the documents be made public.