ROMAN POLANSKI: A FREE MAN

Posted by | Posted in Commentary | Posted on 12-07-2010

Polanski free, Swiss reject US extradition request
Mon Jul 12, 9:03 AM

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100712/world/roman_polanski_6?printer=1

By Bradley S. Klapper,Frank Jordans, The Associated Press

BERN, Switzerland – The Swiss government declared renowned film director Roman Polanski a free man on Monday after rejecting a U.S. request to extradite him on a charge of having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.

The Swiss mostly blamed U.S. authorities for failing to provide confidential testimony about Polanski’s sentencing procedure in 1977-1978.

The stunning decision could end the United States’ three-decade pursuit of Polanski, unless he travels to another country that would be willing to apprehend him and weigh sending him to Los Angeles. France, where he has spent much of his time, does not extradite its own citizens, and the public scrutiny over Switzerland’s deliberations may dissuade other nations from making such a spectacular arrest.

The Swiss government said it had sought confidential testimony given on Jan. 26 by Roger Gunson, the Los Angeles attorney in charge of the original prosecution against Polanski. Washington rejected the request.

“Mr. Polanski can now move freely. Since 12:30 today he’s a free man,” Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf declared.

The Oscar-winning director of “Rosemary’s Baby,” ”Chinatown” and “The Pianist” was accused of plying his victim with champagne and part of a Quaalude during a 1977 modeling shoot and raping her. He was initially indicted on six felony counts, including rape by use of drugs, child molesting and sodomy, but pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse.

In exchange, the judge agreed to drop the remaining charges and sentence him to prison for a 90-day psychiatric evaluation. However, he was released after 42 days by an evaluator who deemed him mentally sound and unlikely to offend again. The judge responded by saying he was going to send Polanski back to jail for the remainder of the 90 days and that afterward he would ask Polanski to agree to a “voluntary deportation.” Polanski then fled the country on the eve of his Feb. 1, 1978, sentencing.

Based on references to Gunson’s testimony in U.S. courts, the Swiss said it “should prove” that Polanski served his sentence after undergoing 42 days of diagnostic study, the statement said.

“If this were the case, Roman Polanski would actually have already served his sentence and therefore both the proceedings on which the U.S. extradition request is founded and the request itself would have no foundation,” the ministry said.

The Justice Ministry also said that national interests were taken into consideration in the decision.

“The 76-year-old French-Polish film director Roman Polanski will not be extradited to the USA,” the ministry said in a statement. “The freedom-restricting measures against him have been revoked.”

Polanski’s lawyer Herve Temime said the director was still at his Swiss chalet in the resort of Gstaad, where he has been held under house arrest since December.

Switzerland’s top justice official said he could now leave.

Temime told The Associated Press by telephone from his office in Paris that his client was ready to enjoy his freedom.

“This decision was certainly not expected,” Temime said.

He praised Swiss authorities for making the responsible decision.

Approving extradition had seemed the likeliest scenario after Polanski was arrested on Sept. 26 as he arrived in Zurich to receive a lifetime achievement award from a film festival. Polanski had also suffered a series of legal setbacks this year in California courts.

Switzerland handles about 200 extradition requests a year and only about 5 per cent are rejected, Widmer-Schlumpf said.

Widmer-Schlumpf said this decision was not meant to excuse Polanski’s crime, saying the issue was “not about deciding whether he is guilty or not guilty.”

The government said extradition had to be rejected “considering the persisting doubts concerning the presentation of the facts of the case.”

Beyond the legal confusion, Polanski’s extradition is a complicated and diplomatically sensitive because of Polanski’s status as a cultural icon in France and Poland, where he holds dual citizenship, and his history as a Holocaust survivor whose first wife was murdered by crazed followers of cult leader Charles Manson in California.

Widmer-Schlumpf said she informed authorities in the United States, France and Poland, in addition to Polanski’s lawyer.

___

Klapper reported from Geneva. AP correspondent Angela Charlton contributed from Paris.

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Switzerland won’t extradite Polanski to the U.S.
Swiss release director, claim U.S. failed to share confidential testimonyVideo Switzerland won’t extradite Polanski to U.S. .Photos Roman Polanski’s life, career .Timeline Roman Polanski: Tragedy, scandal and success .
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updated 2 hours 34 minutes ago
BERN, Switzerland — The Swiss government declared renowned film director Roman Polanski a free man on Monday after rejecting a U.S. request to extradite him on a charge of having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.

The Swiss mostly blamed U.S. authorities for failing to provide confidential testimony about Polanski’s sentencing procedure in 1977-1978.

The stunning decision could end the United States’ three-decade pursuit of Polanski, unless he travels to another country that would be willing to apprehend him and weigh sending him to Los Angeles. France, where he has spent much of his time, does not extradite its own citizens, and the public scrutiny over Switzerland’s deliberations may dissuade other nations from making such a spectacular arrest.

The Swiss government said it had sought confidential testimony given on Jan. 26 by Roger Gunson, the Los Angeles attorney in charge of the original prosecution against Polanski. Washington rejected the request.

“Mr. Polanski can now move freely. Since 12:30 today he’s a free man,” Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf declared.

Authorities in Los Angeles and Washington cannot appeal the Swiss decision. Sandy Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, declined to comment.

Case dates to 1977
The Oscar-winning director of “Rosemary’s Baby,” “Chinatown” and “The Pianist” was accused of plying his victim with champagne and part of a Quaalude during a 1977 modeling shoot and raping her. He was initially indicted on six felony counts, including rape by use of drugs, child molesting and sodomy, but pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/38201135/ns/today-entertainment/?GT1=43001

Today is indeed a good day for Samskara Impressions. After months of legal wrangling and secretive shennanigans on behalf of California District Attorney Steve Cooley and his henchman Dave Walgren along with the complicity of Supreme Court Judge Peter Espinoza, the Swiss under Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, refused the request by the United States to hand Roman Polanski over to the US. In what may have come as a shock, Justice Minister Widmer-Schlumpf denied the extradition application due to the petitioner’s failure to provide full disclosure on the case at hand. What in particular Justice Widmer-Schlumpf wanted was a deposition given by former District Attorney Roger Gunson on Rittenband’s conduct, which has been held under seal by Judge Espinoza.

By her order, Justice Widmer-Schlumpf has stated for the public record that Roman Polanski had not only served his time for his offense, but also denied the United States from issuing any further extradition warrants for Polanski.

LAW ABIDING CITIZEN

Posted by | Posted in Commentary | Posted on 04-07-2010

LAW AIDING CITZEN STARRING GERARD BUTLER AND JAMIE FOXXI recently watched a film on my local cable company’s on demand service that is interesting in that it posits the aspect of what is a ‘law abiding citizen’?

The film stars Gerard Butler (“Lara Croft: Cradle of Life”, “Reign of Fire”, “Gamer” and “300″) as Clyde Shelton, a fringe worker for the CIA and whose wife and daughter are brutally murdered by two men. Enter Jamie Foxx (“The Kingdom”, “Miami Vice”, “Collateral” and “Ray”) as Nick Rice, at the beginning of the film and assistant district attorney for Philadelphia assigned to prosecute the killers of Shelton’s family. In the end, Nick is forced to take a plea on the case in which the actual killer walks on a lighter sentence as the other man involved in the Shelton case, is sent to Death Row. As the other man leaves for a five year prison sentence, Clyde watches as Rice is approached and it looks as if he’s in league with the real killer. Some years later Clyde puts together a plan to make all those who allowed the killer of his wife and daughter to get away with it. That plan Clyde puts into motion is as a law abiding citizen to make those pay who allowed the ‘deal’ with the devil as it were. The twist on this story is that Clyde only puts those in those positions of power in his line of fire. Everyone from Rice to the mayor (Viola Davis) are targets as far as Clyde Shelton is concerned due to their complicity in the system. Thus lays out the basic plot of the film. Shelton begins to get revenge on those he holds responsible for the miscarriage of justice that allowed the killer of his wife and child walk.

What does this have to do with the price of tea in the Polanski case? Plenty.

It seems as though it’s perfectly fine for those condemning Polanski and his decision to run back in 1978 to deride his decision, then to condemn the one responsible for that decision Polanski made. Polanski played by the rules as far as his case was concerned. As the Marina Zenovich documentary ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED & DESIRES succinctly summed up, there were gross incidents of judicial misconduct on behalf of the presiding judge, Laurence J. Rittenband. Most of which the film documented, however, there is a greater picture here. While Roman Polanski submitted himself to every hoop Rittenband presented to Polanski to jump through, Rittenband himself remained above that law he swore to uphold.

Going back to that epiotme of uprightness, some of the posters on the many boards I’ve posted, perused or lurked on, have stated that the issue here isn’t what Rittenband did, but what Polanski did. Granted, had Polanski ‘kept it in his pants’, a valid argument at any time if indeed there was a rape for Polanski to have been guilty of, the ‘fruit of the poisonous tree’ was allowed to propigate by Rittenband’s actions, but Vannatter’s actions and by the system itself. One cannot expect to have the air of propriety without a system that cannot be used by those chosen to uphold that law, to then turn around and crap on it. What am I talking about? Simply this. Polanski complied with all that was asked of him. Now what was asked of him? Here is what he did:

  • When ordered to return from Germany after the Oktoberfest photo that was shown Rittenband by David Welles, Roman Polanski returned as he was required to do by law.
  • When ordered to Chino for the psychiatric report, a thing that was not required under the law at the time, Polanski reported.
  • When the psychiatric and probation reports were completed, there was no need to hold him any further and it was the probation officer who ordered him released as per the fact that no psyche report takes the full 90 days to complete.
  • When ordered into court, Polanski presented himself. On those off days when it was only pro forma details for the lawyers, he did not have to report…as per the law.
  • Even when he was ordered to report to read from Rittenband’s prepared script, Roman Polanski still reported.

Those are the facts. Now whether it was required of Polanski to submit himself to harm other than what was required under the statute and Rittenband’s continued illegal conduct, it wasn’t up to Polanski to do so. Rittenband was the one who was conducting his court in an illegal fashion. Now the next statement I’ll likely get is: “OKay, if Polanski was feeling he was being ill-treated, why didn’t he stay and fight it?” Legitimate question, certainly, but not the reality Polanski was living with. He’d submitted himself to all that Rittenband demanded, but Rittenband was still renegging on the plea deal. And for those who’d say that it doesn’t matter, a judge is allowed to reneg all he wants. I say, no a judge is not. If the deal hammered out by both sides and in this case, on behalf of the so-called ‘victim’ and her lawyer and her father, also a lawyer who was the one who came up with the deal to begin with, all Rittenband had to do was to sign off on it…unless he felt that there was some pressure put on the ‘victim’. In that case and only that case, is the judge allowed to question the deal. In this case, and this case alone, no one wanted jail or prison time for Polanski. No one. Not even Geimer or her mother or father. What did Rittenband consider this as well as the court ordered reports from the probation office as well as the psychiatric reports? He considered it a whitewash. A whitewash only because it didn’t comport with his belief of who he thought Polanski was. And that is not his right by law. He can think whatever he wants about Polanski’s conduct or his life, the point here is that it means nothing in terms of applying the law. And what Rittenband did was illegal.

Going back to that assumption that Polanski had to lay himself at the feet of the corrupt judge to accept his ‘punishment’, no noe has to submit themselves to something that is over and above what the statute itself states. Polanski took the only out he felt he could to escape Rittenband’s machinations, and that was to flee to France. And if Rittenband wanted to make sure Polanski didn’t have that ability to run, he should have confiscated Polanski’s passport, which Rittenband didn’t do. So is it Polanski’s fault that Ritteband failed to do so? No. Should Polanski have given that up when he returned from Germany? No. It wasn’t required by law for him to do so. So this returns me again to what Polanski did do in order to comply with what the court ordered. And what he did do was comply at all turns. The only time he didn’t was when he felt he was being treated unfairly. If he hadn’t run, which Rittenband wanted Polanski to self-deport himself anyway…something Rittenband had no legal right to demand, Polanski did what Rittenband wanted. He left the United States.

So now where onto the law abiding citizen part. LIke Clyde in the film, he did what was required of him by law to do. He believed that the law would do what it was designed to do and to punish those responsible for the deaths of his wife and child. Even if it meant that Nick would loose his case for whatever reason, at least according to Clyde, Nick would have tried. Which would have been all Clyde would have asked of Nick. To try. What does this have to do with Polanski? Simple. It could try to address this fairly and swiftly for all involved. But somehow like Judge Laurence Rittenband before him, Steve Cooley and Peter Espinoza feel that they don’t have to follow the law. They feel that it is their word and nothing more. I asked in a previous post, what is Steve Cooley afraid of. I’ll ask again, if there is nothing to hide, why continue to keep Roger Gunson’s deposition under seal? What is to be gained by it? Gunson gave this deposition to the Polanski side to help him nad them in understanding what actually happened with Rittenband, and this comported precisely with what Douglas Dalton has always contended. There’s no mystery here. And for Polanski to quit his fight from Switzerland with so much still in question as per the original procedings, then Swiss law would be in breach of its own Geneva Convention about turning prisoners over to a system that will not comport with that law.

Like Clyde Shelton, Roman Polanski expected to be treated like any other citzen of the United States. Be given equal treatment and not centred out for his celebrity, which despite what those anti-Polanskites seem to think, worked against him. It didn’t help him. It didn’t protect him. Rittenband on the other hand gained off of Polanski’s fame and then continued to treat him above and beyond what the law required. That is not prosecution, it is persecution. The fact that Rittenband didn’t pay for his treatment of Polanski is a shame. He should have been pulled from the bench and taken to task for his misconduct that went over the line of justice. And yeah, yeah, yeah…I’ve heard that one again about Polanski keeping it his pants. But he didn’t. In the end, he expected to be treated fairly and without prejudice. Despite what Polanski did or didn’t do, whether the said double anal rape occurred according to the evidence collected and tested…oh wait, failed to be tested, the facts still remain the Californai legal system still refuses to play by the rules. Not surprising since Steve Cooley hasn’t seen fit to prosecute those involved in decades old abuses by the California Archdiocese of the Catholic Church given they’re contributing to his run for Attorney General of the State of Californai. Not surprising at all.

Oh, I should also mention that just recently, The Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger has reduced civil servant’s paychecks to minimum wage. Considering California is facing a budget shortfall by winter, the fact that Cooley is wasting funds on this case to ‘get Polanski back’ is ridiculous. Espinoza, have the guts to sentence Polanski in absentia and have this over and done with. You’ll look like the bigger man for it. Instead, you just continue to look like the Rittenband abstructionist you are. Some legacy.

MAKING THE GRADE

Posted by | Posted in Commentary | Posted on 20-06-2010

After some time away from this issue, I came back to find that I had a boatload of comments awaiting approval, trashing and commenting on. What I found was a wide range of things from links to porn sites, free Viagra, seeing photos of Rachel Bilson (never heard of her) naked, and several sites for free downloads of movies. While I trashed about 200 of these like posts, I approved of some that were to say the least, condemning of what I’ve had to say on the topic of Samantha Geimer and her supposed ‘ordeal’ with Roman Polanski some 33 years ago. I’ve responded to many approved comments from people who stopped by simply to accuse me of being a hypocrite, to others who believe I had what was coming to me from this IMDB poster who annotated my story of my rape. I also had a wide range of comments that I did trash who were outright stupid, and still others who I believe should never see the light of day considering they were just plainly, bad.

I have one thing to say though on those who wish to comment on the Polanski case without providing their facts in the form of links or a page of testimony or even something that can back up what they’re saying. I’m going to state this with clarity: If you are going to try to argue this case with me without providing proof in the form of an actual page of testimony or something that is in the public record of the case, I’m saying don’t bother posting. It won’t be accepted nor approved. I have very little time and patience for those who refuse to aquit themselves with the facts and claim such things as, “her boyfriend never came to her place….” Etc. You clearly show a lack of intelligence when you refuse to make yourself even aware of the issues in this case. Further, like it or not, Roman Polanski’s rights were abused. Samantha Geimer, it appears, received her payment in the form of a half a million dollar payout given to her by Polanski and confirmed by her lawyers. She received her ju$tice. Roman Polanski has as yet, to receive his in the form of fair treatment at the hands of the California Justice System. Until he does, this blog will continue to raise the pertinent issues regarding that injustice. This blog will also point out the errors made by stupid people who refuse to even believe that Polanski was treated unfairly. And for those who believe that it’s perfeclty okay for the current DA of Los Angeles, one Steve Cooley currently running for California Attorney General, who still refuses to try any one of his buddies in the Catholic Arch Diocese for molesting and raping children going back decades. He is a joke and a disgrace.

To finish, I’m tired of having to continue to post and repost stuff on message boards and other blogs about this case. It’s tiresome and frankly, getting to the point of ridiculousness. In this day and age where Google is available and readily handy with any facts you care to avail yourself of, there is no excuse for the lack of research not done.

NOTE ON ONE OF MY POSTS

Posted by | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 11-05-2010

Due to someone deciding to use my story of my own rape for his own delusional rantings on the Roman Polanski board over at IMDB, I’ve had to make the post “Polanski Pt 2 … No Hard Feelings” password protected. I will not have my story used as some kind of fodder for someone’s own pleasure. The post was disgusting and vulgar. According to this poster, my story was concocted and therefore is perfectly acceptable to rip apart. This is in retalliation for my posts there on Samantha Geimer’s case.

I will state here: Samantha Geimer is now a public figure. She chose to go to the news media and to a tabloid show in 1997 to tell her story. She has chosen to make herself known and as such, anything in her case is available to the public under the Freedom of Informations Act or FOIA. Most of the transcripts, reports and any other rulings have been made public or have been made accessible through various media outlets. This means her story is available as any other court case to be examined. My story of my rape, however, is my own intellectual property and is not subject to being republished or reposted anywhere else without my prior written, verbal or given agreement. Therefore, at this time, I have taken it offline in order that this person cannot exploit my story to his own whims.

I will state here once and for all, I was raped on 21 December 1977. I am a rape survivor, however, I will not be victimized again. So to this one poster, if you have saved anything of my blog to repost someplace else, I will find it and have it deleted once more. You had no right to take my story and mock it. You had no right to take my rape and contort it to your own aims. My story and my case is not public. There are no public documents available for anyone’s perusal. Therefore my story is not for your musings.

I’ll have more on the Polanski case in the days to come.

STEVE COOLEY: WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF?

Posted by | Posted in Commentary | Posted on 06-05-2010

DA opposes Polanski’s request for sealed testimony

1 hour, 52 minutes ago
By The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Prosecutors are asking a Los Angeles judge to reject a request by Roman Polanski’s attorneys to unseal transcripts of closed-door testimony in the case.

Polanski’s attorneys want a judge to unseal testimony earlier this year by the original prosecutor handling the case, Roger Gunson. They say it will help their efforts to fight Polanksi’s extradition from Switzerland, where he remains on house arrest.

Prosecutors on Thursday argued in a court filing that Polanski’s motion should be rejected because he remains a fugitive.

A hearing on the issue has been scheduled for Monday afternoon.

Los Angeles prosecutors want the Oscar-winning director returned to face sentencing on a charge he had unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl in 1977.

Original Article

It seems Steve Cooley is doing everything he can to make sure Rittenband’s actions that caused Polanski to flee, never see the light of day. What I’d like to ask is: What exactly is Steve Cooley afraid of?

I’m not quite sure if it’s because he feels that without Polanski physically present, he’s not going to get…what, elected? Is he so insipid he must attach his name to Roman Polanski’s in order to get his 15 minutes? I truly do not understand this man. He claims to be for ‘law and order and the American Way’, but what exactly is he doing in prolonging this case? Does he think he’s going to get some kind of karmic cookie in the end?

This case has already gone on long enough. Thirty three years is enough. Roman Polanski has taken all he should be required to take at the hands of the California Legal System. It abused him at the time his wife, Sharon Tate and four others were murdered at his home in 1969, and it abused him again in 1977 with this case. Everyone else excepting Steve Cooley, Dave Walgren, Peter Espinoza and the ghost of Laurence J. Rittenband want this case over and done with. Roman Polanski wants to go home to France and be a father and a husband. Samantha Geimer wants this case over and done with so she can…do whatever it is she does…Douglas Dalton wants this case overwith so he can retire knowing he did what he did do and finally cleared Polanski’s name, Roger Gunson wants this case over and done with because he may be ill and wants to know justice was finally done. What is so wrong with that? All parties win. Steve Cooley seems to want to shoot himself in the foot while running with scissors. He’s a calamity. Someone who doesn’t know when they’re acting like a fool.

I’d like to know what is in that transcript Roger Gunson gave to Chad Hummel and Bart Dalton (Polanski’s attorneys) that is so incendiary that Cooley seems to think it cannot be opened? Cooley it seems is practicing his own version of the law. Is the defense not allowed to offer their evidence? Are they not allowed to defend their client and be certain that everything the can use, will be used without having to be hamstrung by a zealous prosecutor? It seems to me that Cooley has his foot caught in a trap and is trying to chew it off without the benefit of painkillers.

The only thing that I can think of that would make Cooley so desperate is that he thinks if Polanski is seen in the orange jumpsuit with the chains and the shackles, it won’t look good for the PR campaign he needs to keep positive for his upcoming election. “Wow, Mr. Cooley…wouldn’t that look neat seeing a 76 year-old man being brought to California on your watch in chains?” There is absolutely no reason to not allow the unsealing of Gunson’s statement. To have the appearance of transparency, allowing this to be opened would make Cooley look like he’s at least playing by the rules. To fight to keep it secret still, is only showing how Cooley not only doesn’t play fair, but that his continued persecution of Roman Polanski is nothing but a smokescreen for his other failings in not prosecuting those of the Archdiocese sex scandal currently plaguing California. Add to that, the class action lawsuit filed by his fellow DAs and ADAs who have charged Cooley with fraud and invasion of privacy. But hey, that’s just a minor point. Cooley has had not one, but several law suits filed against him. Roman Polanski has had one. Who is the dangerous one Mr. Cooley?

WITH THE FIRST LINK, THE CHAIN IS FORGED

Posted by | Posted in Commentary | Posted on 27-04-2010

For a long time, I was a STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION fan. What I loved about the show was how it wasn’t squeamish to take on certain topics that although it was a science fiction show, was based very much in the real world of today. Whether it was the Klingons or the Romulans, the Cardassians, or the Dominion as was the case of the spin-off to TNG, STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE, there was one underlying truth about it: It dared to tackle the things we in this ‘real’ world thought was beyond the realm of possibilities. There was one episode in TNG‘s fourth season titled The Drumhead. It was an amazing episode featuring an incredible performance by guest star, the late Jean Simmons, as Starfleet Admiral Norah Satie. The plot of the episode was simply, a young Starfleet cadet named Simon Tarses is accused of committing high treason against the Federation by failing to admit his Romulan heritage. Admiral Satie goes on a futuristic witchhunt in order to weed out the corruption within Starfleet and takes Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) to task for daring to try to defend Tarses. Within the episode’s intricate storyline, Satie believes there is further corruption inside the Federation and within the ranks of The Enterprise’s crew. She even accuses Picard of being ‘in on it’. [ Full synopsis can be found here: Wikipedia ] At a crucial point in the episode and under heavy examination by Satie’s prosecutor, Picard stops the procedings and issues this statement:

You know, there are some words I’ve known since I was a schoolboy: “With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably.” Those words were uttered by Judge Aaron Satie, as wisdom and warning. The first time any man’s freedom is trodden on, we’re all damaged.

What Picard meant is that, with the first accusation or the first illegal thing done, there is a slippery slope that creates a landslide. This landslide continues until everything that was, is forever wiped out and nothing of what used to be, remains. I should also take the time here to give a meaning to the word drumhead What it refers to is the custom where summary justice dispensed on the battlefield, around an upended drum, where appeals were always denied. Customarily, during a drumhead trial, there is an implied lack of judicial partiality which renders almost always, a verdict of guilty and summary judgement in the form of death for the offender.

How does all of this pertain to Roman Polanski?

To say I’m dismayed at the recent rulings in the Roman Polanski case, would be undercutting what I actually feel. For some reason the California District Attorney’s office under DA Steve Cooley and DA David Walgren seem to not want to have aired certain facts of this case. I’m not sure if it has anything to do with Cooley’s current run at the Attorney General of the State of California, but there is somethering rotten in Denmark. What is particularly suspect is why no one wants to look into the gross judicial misconduct made by Judge Laurence J. Rittenband. What people fail to note, and there is a certain few posters over at Polanski’s IMDB board you can view [ HERE ], who seem to think this is just about Polanski. It isn’t.

If Rittenband has been found to have committed other cases of judicial misconduct, then this throws all of his rulings into serious review. Any link along that thing called chain of custody is suspect, then the whole case is deemed either unprosecutable, or totally unable to be adjudicated with the fullest essence of what the law is supposed to represent. It is not something that is arbitrarily used to convict those who are of a certain bracket. Whether that be gender based, class based, or even ethnically based. It is supposed to be blind. There was nothing blind about what Judge Rittenband was doing to Roman Polanski. By nature of his refusal to accept the terms of the plea bargain, Rittenband excercised not only poor judgement, but allowed his own record throughout his career become susceptable to review. And any fair verdict of those actually guilty of their offense, could now be subject to reversal and perhaps even, freedom for those actually guilty of committing crimes more serious than the one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor that Polanski was not convicted of, but rather, pled to under a scripted dramatic reading in Rittenband’s courtroom.

In the NBC procedural LAW & ORDER: SPEICAL VICTIMS UNIT fifth season episode “Poison”, guest star Tom (“Alien”) Skerritt played the part of Judge Oliver Taft. Taft came under the scorn of ADA Casey Novak played by Diane Neal for his class bias. With a mirror turned, it might well have been the Roman Polansk case. Here it is in its entirety:

What is astonishing here is that the plot of this episode is exactly what happened in the Roman Polanski case; the judge having total control over everything from how the ADA dressed to the way the child was more or less best up on in the Taft’s chambers. Why this means so much to me is that without transparency in our courts, houses of government and in those places were we expect to have parity, we cannot truly say that such things are transparent. Unless we demand this of our judges, prosecutors, senators, politicians, we remain linked forever to that all too rare of birds, forfeiting our rights for those of a select few who dictate our futures. And without proper review and that aspect of being allowed to A) confront our accusors, and B) demand transparency, we are giving up our human freedoms. Just because a select few deem Roman Polanski a criminal from a proceeding that was by its very aspect, illegal, we are setting a dangerous precedent we can never recover from.

Roman Polanski was never convicted. That is a fallacy often repeated for the purient interest of those refusing to learn the facts. He was never truly found guilty due to the impropriety of Rittenband’s courtroom. That it has been recently revealed that Roger Gunson, the original prosecutor in the case, has given sworn testimony which can be read here: Roman Polanski Appeals Document (PDF format) ], that Rittenband engaged in illegal conduct, and that the current presiding judge, Espinoza, has refused to allow the unsealing of that document leaves Espinoza with nothing more than the taint of Rittenband towering over his courtroom. Again, another link forged in the judicial persecution of Roman Polanski. What is shocking is that no one other than Polanski’s supporters seem to care about this. There is the notion that because Roman Polanski is not an American, he doesn’t deserve the full rights and freedoms given to those inside the United States. This conjures some kind of absolute rule of kings those who left England for the New World, sought to escape from. Where only the elite can dictate what will or will not happen to those of us on the ground. Some might even state that Roman Polanski has enough money to defend himself. He’s rich. Well, not so much. The erroneous belief that Polanski whose net worth back in 1977 was cited as being no more than $60, 000.00 American, is a rich man, is not true. He has a limited coffer from which to pull. And all of these legal arguments he’s been forced to fight, he is has little left. Consider too, how much interest the Swiss are pulling from the $4.5 million dollar bail Polanski had to post in order to be released to his Gstaad chalet. One has to wonder if this isn’t an orchestrated move on Cooley and Co’s behalf to bleed the man dry.

It concerns me too that no matter what Polanski does, it seems the Americans are not held to the same standard. The Obama government has still yet to hand over five CIA agents who were sentenced and found guilty in absentia by an Italian court of law for the abduction and torture of a suspected terrorist they spirited from an Italian street, and flown to Egypt where the torture took place. The man was also waterboarded. It appears the man may not have been guilty. Considering there is no evidence whatsoever in this case against Polanski, the same thing that happened to that suspected terrorist, may also happen to Polanski. While I don’t think waterboarding will be a possibility, the notion that a 76 year-old man who has conducted himself with grace and dignity before his flight and after, should be subjected to this behaviour, is plainly sick. When the Americans refuse to do the same with one of theirs, is it any wonder why Polanski refuses to voluntarily hand himself over to a system that has not, nor has it ever been willing to deal with this case fairly and without taint?

All this leaves me with something from the immortal David Bowie. It’s the video to his masterpiece I’M AFRAID OF AMERICANS.

In conclusion: For a country that likes to pride itself on its fairness and its supposed air of being the world’s watchdog and purveyor of justice, it sure doesn’t practice it. And the Roman Polanski case is rife with just the very things that American’s should be questioning…but aren’t. So in that, I’m afraid of Americans. I’m afraid I can’t help it. I’m afraid I can’t…..

HISTORY IS A LIE AGREED UPON …

Posted by | Posted in Commentary | Posted on 04-02-2010

I had started out this post as a letter to a friend of mine in discussion to something he passed onto me about the Polanski case regarding Anjelica Huston’s part in all of this, however, after I began writing I found this deserved to be a blog post. Why? Simple. It has some issues that have been further nagging me since Roman Polanski’s arrest and subsequent re-vilification of him since then by a many numbered member of the global lynch mob brigade who are beating themselves into orgasmic delight in wanting his blood spilled by any number of disgusting fashions. So I decided to make this a blog post. So here we go.

First of all, an explanation of the title of the post. History is a lie agreed upon is something David Milch of “Deadwood” fame coined in trying to put history into perspective. What it means is that the ones who ‘sings the songs’ as The Who put it, are the ones who get to tell their side of the truth, no matter if it is or not. They are the victors, the ones putting out the ‘facts’ as such so therefore they are controlling the medium and the amount of fact streamed to the hungry masses. It doesn’t matter if it resembles the truth, just a fraction of it so as to make it acceptable to anyone who might question the realness of the information. So in essence what is happening is there is the perception of fact, when in all actuality, there is little of it that even makes the airwaves or reams of newsprint committed to giving the hungry citizenry what they want, which is a sensationalistic version of what is in all actuality, a form of prevarication…or a lie agreed upon so that those involved. As long as there is some variance of the actual truth in there someplace, those who do put this stuff out are somehow able to live with themselves. Despite the fact that those who read this stuff are largely lazy of just wanting the three minute version of the events, rather than the actual truth. So in effect what is left over is the lie agreed upon. The press agrees to lie to the public and the public agree to accept their facts as given. History is full of such inaccuracies. So is the case of the State of California V Roman Polanski.

The Q&A below is from the Grand Jury testimony by Samantha Geimer, our presumed ‘victim’ at the head of this case against Roman Polanski. It should be read with an account that she is testifying under oath and subject to perjury. The below is from Prosecutor Roger Gunson and Ms. Geimer about what she did after her return home after the most traumatizing afternoon of her life:

Q. After you arrived home with Mr. Polanski on
March 10th and before you went to the doctor, did you have a
bowel movement?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you have a douche?
A. No.
Q. Did you have a bath?
A. No.
Q. Did you have a shower?
A. No.

According to Dr. Edward Larson who conducted the examination of Geiemr at Parkland, he noted to the Grand Jury that he found nothing consistent with any kind of vaginal or anal tearing, He also noted that she didn’t have anything resembling trauma. He also said he examined her with a sigmoidascopy, I can tell you those are not nice I’ve had two in my time, but they could in fact, do more damage to someone than anal intercourse can. Okay, getting off track here. Sorry. But from reading it, I plainly got the impression that this doctor found nothing to indicate any kind of anal penetration. And what gets me further is that Geimer claimed she put on her panties three times, after she got out of the jaccuzi, after the first anal ‘rape’ and then after the ‘second’. She then claims that the semen was coming out of her anus and was sort of smooshed into the panties. Flash forward to when she returned home, lied about the asthma attack and went into her bedroom. She claimed she got into her nightgown and then called her boyfriend, Steve. Steve came over and went into her bedroom. This causes all kinds of problems for me.

Here she is, the ‘victim’ of this horrendous ‘rape’ by this man she was ‘scared’ of, yet she has no qualms about letting Steve into her room with her. I can tell you from my experience, you don’t want to be alone with ANY man, let alone your boyfriend. I remember with mine, he never understood why I didn’t want him near me or to touch me. I’m still like that today. I’ll confess, I’m bi-sexual and have been with my partner (a woman) for close to 30 years now. I do know I’m still touch sensitive. If she touches me a certain way, I either jump, or have to pull back from her because it is what is called ‘touch memory’ of something that happened. For me, it was when my rapist came up to me and was holding me against his body before he began the rape. Even though I know my partner will not hurt me, it’s still the sensation that I’m being held or not allowed to leave of my own accord. Yet, here Geimer was allowing this guy into her room while she’s in her nightgown? Makes no sense. So my question has to be this one, She was still apparently wearing the underwear she was wearing from Nicholson’s house, so why sit in Polanski’s ‘filth’ while talking to the boyfriend? Did she like sitting in that? Was she getting some kind of a thrill out of it, or was there no sperm in the panties UNTIL Steve and she perhaps put it there? Then suddenly that’s when the police were called by the mother.

There is no independent evidence of what happened after she returned home and after Polanski left. We do not know what was said or ‘planned’ at that time. So if we do take into consideration that Polanski did ask her about being on birth control and not wanting her to become pregnant, why not lie and say that she was so she could get pregnant by him? There is according to what evidence we have here, absolutely no DNA linking Polanski to her in any way. At least Monica Lewinsky held onto that blue dress and didn’t launder it or send it out to be dry cleaned! One would think that if Susan had been THAT intelligent, they’d have kept something that would have had Polanski’s DNA matter on it.

Still further, Gunson in the Grand Jury testimony questioned both Vannatter and the chemist who testified that there was something that appeared to be sperm. In fact, he was 90% certain it was. However, what kind of testing was done? Namely, what kind of typing and sub-typing was done? At that point, there was no RFLP or even RNA sequencing that would have determined definite ownership of that DNA matter. Back when Sharon was murdered, the blood guy who took samples in the immediate vicinity of each of the victims, plus various spaltters on the baseboards leading to Sharon and Roman’s bedroom, plus at the front inside entry, the porch and on the walkway leading outside the front door. In all cases, he found that the typing and sub-typing belonged to the victim in the nearest proximty to the blood stains or major collection. The only place he had difficulty was directly on the front porch where the largest bit belonged to victim Voytek Frykowski, but there was a mixture of Frykowski’s, plus Jay Sebring and Sharon Tate. In the forensics taken by Joe Granado, he found there to be three types of blood taken on the porch and tested it as belonging to Voytek Frykowski, Sharon Tate and Jay Sebring. So I posit this: If blood typing and sub-typing was being done even back in 1969 when forensics was still in its relative infancy, who difficult woult it be to type and sub-type semen? How difficult would it have been to take a court compelled blood sample from Roman Polanski, then compare it in terms of type and sub-type to the semen found on the panties? But then both Roger Gunson and Philip Vannatter would have had to contend with that nasty little thing called >CHAIN OF CUSTODY. It was known that the panties were not collected until two days after the event. Technically, they should have been collected at the time of the rape kit exam at Parland Hospital. According to Samantha Gemier’s own testimony, she’d been wearing a blue dress at the time she left Nicholson’s house, saying goodbye to the woman who was there on her way out. So if she ‘Lewinskied’, there should ahve been evidence of sperm on her dress since she claimed she dressed ASAP to ‘get out of there’. She was wearing no other garments such as a bra, or stockings, so there would have been transference from her skin and seepage through the underwear onto the dress. Transference is the likely reason there was a mixture of blood on the flagstone porch at 10050 Cielo Drive on the night of the Tate murders. Yet according to the forensics that came back after scientific tests, her anus, vagina, vaginal lips, dress and other places where one would have expected to find semen or seminal fluids, all came back as negative…yet no tests were done on the panties? Makes no sense.

I mentioned that Geimer admitted to having taken no shower, no bath, no enema, no douche, this according to her testimony to Roger Gunson during the Grand Jury session. One thing I should explain about what is done during a Grand Jury session. The perponderance of the evidence the prosecutor has to prove is next to nothing. It is essentially, a star chamber proceeding. The prosecutor is basically, the lone inquisitor. He alone asks the questions put to the various witnesses who are called in a certain order so as to piece together his/her case to gain an indictment against the perpetrator who has the presumption of innocence until a jury of twelve render their verdict, or in some cases, a judge rules. It is the defendant who decides between a jury trial, judge trial or to accept a plea bargain if it is beneficial to their case. So in essence, during the Grand Jury procedings, there is no one else in the room except for the prosecutor, the particular witness and 21-23 members of a ‘professional’ panel who issues the indictment based on the lowest mix of the evidence and testimony provided. In this case, Gunson called very few poeple into the Grand Jury room. According to the list on the official transcript, it included Samantha Jane Gailey, Philip Vannatter, and six others that included the medical doctor who examined Geimer. There is no cross-examination allowed by the defense who could call into question whatever collected evidence or bias the particular wintess had in the case. In this case, Douglas Dalton could have hammered away at the testimony given by Geimer and noted the inconsistencies in her statements as to the donning and undonning of her underwear or any other given set of clothing she took with her that day…as selected by Roman Polanski, according to her. Susan Gailey’s parental skills could have been called into question. Philip Vannatter’s evidence collection skills could have been questioned, god knows we know he’s prone to carrying around vials of blood laced with EDTA and running shoes kept in the trunk of his car for at least twenty-four hours after removal from a supposed crime scene. So this goes back to evidence. Is it circumstantial evidence? Not even close. This is technically, no evidence at all since there is no concrete proof Roman Polanski ‘raped’ this poor helpless little ‘kid’. So where do we go from here?

I think the easiest way to go would be for someone independent of the case to explore its intracasies. Certainly there are so many agendas here the real truth is getting lost within the pages of minutae and scripted sound bites logged in their many forms accross the spectrum. The mainstream press is controlled by the corporations who cannot in any way be seen as supporting a much vilified man when it comes to reporting the truth. That’s the reason to a certain degree, I wish Roman Polanski would allow himself to be returned to the United States, withdraw his original plea, or scripted plea, and force a trial. Then and only then would the real truth be exposed. All the remaining witnesses would be compelled to testify, including Samantha Geimer whose Grand Jury testimony could clearly be impeached by the evidence of fact. Steve Cooley would then be forced to wipe that egg off his face with that one simple actuality, her statements that fly in the face of what the truth is. Cooley’s balls would be in a sling if the truth actually came out, and all skeletons aired. I understand completely Roman Polanski’s reasons for not wanting to set foot on American soil. He has responsibilities now. It’s not as simple as it might have been say in the 80s when he was still a single man. He must take his son, daughter and wife’s feelings into consideration. Sitting in his chalet in Switerland certainly is a better position for him to be in. Would there truly be someone who could and would examine this case with a clare and unbiased eye? I would hope there would be, but there’s no Innocence Project knocking on Polanski’s door. No one other than Douglas Dalton, his son and Chad Hummel are willing to take on the truth and expose it. I’m still feeling even his California lawyers are lagging a bit. They’ve gone after Welles and others in hopes of swaying opinion. What they should be doing is going straight to the heart of the case, which is the evidence and Geimer’s Grand Jury testimony. They should be highlighting the fact there is no evidence at all in terms of forensics and or medical evidence. And that is disturbing. Why not attack Geimer and her initial testimony. Go after her words and expose that what happened and what is are two totally different things. Go deeper than the Zenovich documentary did and actually show that Geimer’s statements don’t jibe with the evidence that is in the record, definitely not the part of it thesmokinggun.com ever dared to release. They put the two relevant portions of the transcript up on their website, but not the ones that actually contain the truth of it all. Namely, the portions containing the medical evidence and the portions containing the testimony delivered by Dr. Larson himself.

I think what I don’t get about all this is why did Samantha Geimer allow herself to be used in such a disgusting way? Why would she allow herself to undergo an intensely personal examination when it was clear her body bore none of the allegations she contended in her ‘harrowing’ account of fending off a crazed pervert. I know for me after my rape, recounted in a previous post, I certainly couldn’t have gone through that. The violation was too deep, too personal. What did she and her mother hope to gain? And what kind of a mother would have allowed their daughter to go through such an ordeal? I have only one conclusion about Susan Gailey. Today she would likely be diagnosed with Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, a pathology accepted by the DSM (The Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) as containing these characteristics:

  • a condition that involves the exaggeration or fabrication of illnesses or symptoms by a primary caretaker
  • the individual is usually the mother, who deliberately makes another person (most often their own child) sick
  • the parent misleads others into thinking that the child has medical problems by lying and reporting fictitious episodes
  • they will exaggerate or even fabricate symptoms
  • there is an element of satisfaction at knowing they’ve deceived professionals into performing often times needless examinations or surgeries in order to feel more important and powerful

Does this pertain to Susan Gailey? Perhaps. Did she concoct this ‘evidence’ in order to gain some kind of noteriety and when the proof didn’t match the story she and Samantha weaved, did she suddenly decide to backtrack and ask for the plea bargain? Did she realize that Polanski was facing a series of charges that could have brought him up to the 50 years Rittenband had threatened Polanski with? Is that the reason two court appointed psychiatrists stated that there had been an air of permissiveness within the home? Did they know something about the mother and Geimer we didn’t? It is telling neither classed Polanski as any kind of pervert or sexual offender. Neither did they deem him as likely to reoffend. And that has come to pass. Over the past 31 years since he fled injustice in the United States, not one other ‘victim’ has come forward to state Roman Polanski ever did anything to them. One might have thought with the amount of publicity his 2009 Swiss arrest generated, there might have been a flurry of women coming forward to state he’d molested or raped them. But there haven’t been. According to Geimer, no other person but she has ever accused him of doing anything. So why doesn’t Geimer actually do something to end this once and for all by giving an interview on Oprah or some other noteable news show and tell the truth. Tell the truth of what it actually was, not an act of perversion done to her, but rather an act of perversion done to him in order to gain some kind of fame through him. It wouldn’t have been the first time a publicity hungry mother has put their child ahead of the child’s best interests. But then Geimer is old enough now to state for herself why this was done if she truly wants it over and done with. She’s proven that she’s articulate, somewhat intelligent. People have listened to her, sought her out for her story. People magazine featured her in their December 15, 1997 issue where she stated this:

Even now, so-called experts are using my situation on TV talk shows to push their own points, which have nothing to do with how I feel. Twenty years ago everything said about me was horrible. But these days it’s not fashionable to bad-mouth the victim. Now I’m all ready to stand up and defend myself and everyone is saying “oh, you poor thing.” But I’m not a poor thing. And I can’t oblige everyone by becoming freaked out and upset just to make things sound more interesting.

If this is how she truly felt then, why not make a clean break and say what really happened. Even her statements in the Marina Zenovich documentary “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired” don’t ring true. Here was her chance to finally air the unfettered truth, the one that dare not speak its name, yet she is still hanging on her initial claims of victimhood. If she feels that it isn’t fashionable to ‘bad mouth the victim’, fine. Come out with the truth, no one will certainly bad mouth her. In fact, people would likely pat her on the back one more time for being gutsy enough to tell the truth. So why with the lack of evidence against Roman Polanski doesn’t she just drop the pretenses and hyperbole and just tell the truth? Or is her version of it more titillating to tell. She also said this to People:

WHEN I FIRST MET ROMAN Polanski I was living with my mother and sister in the San Fernando Valley. It wasn’t Ozzie and Harriet, but we had a nice family life. My mother was a working actress, and I wanted to be like her. I wanted to be famous—a movie star. But I was really just on the edge of ceasing to be a tomboy and trying to act more like a young lady. I had a 17-year-old boyfriend who drove a Camaro, but my room was knee-deep in clothes; I had a Spider-Man poster on the wall and I kept pet rats.

That she said she wanted to be just like her mother, an actress, and she wanted to be famous, is she afraid the light will shine less brightly on her if the truth is told? To me, it has to do with the infamy she’s gained through attaching herself on the coattails of Roman Polanski. So why not come out with the truth and let the dust fall, fade away into that infamy just like Moncia Lewinsky or Paula Jones or Patricia Bowman? This is nothing more than another Duke Lacrosse allegation unproven by the facts that nothing happened. No proof of any attack, rape or act of savagery. Only and act of a woman wanting to get famous from her daughter’s rendezvous with the director of “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Chinatown”. Given what she said in her Grand Jury testimony that didn’t jibe with the evidence in this case, why did the Grand Jury take so little time in assessing the facts and issue the six count indictment against Polanski? Why did they not see there was no evidence at all here. Nothing but a few allegations unproven? Or was that the lie that was agreed upon?

Protected: Polanski: “No Hard Feelings” …. Pt 2

Posted by | Posted in Commentary | Posted on 14-10-2009

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ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED & DESIRED – WATCH

Posted by | Posted in VIDEO | Posted on 03-10-2009


PLEASE GO TO FULL SCREEN

The last fifteen minutes are the most interesting. All comments by Roger Gunson (prosecutor), Dalton (Polanski’s lawyer) and Silver (Geimer’s lawyer) plus Geimer herself, are extremely insightful.

NOTE: All comments in this post will be moderated. If they contain profanity, or are not constructive, they won’t appear.

ROMAN POLANSKI: AMERICA’S MOST WANTED & DESPISED PT1

Posted by | Posted in Commentary | Posted on 02-10-2009

romanpThere’s a scene from a Stephen Sommers film called Van Helsing where a crowd of pitchfork weilding, torch carring villagers are stampeding toward a windmill where a deformed, and mangled creature is carrying his deceased maker. The creature climbs the stairs to the top of the windmill where in the distance, the throng comes ever nearer. As the crowd bears down on the windmill, we can hear screams and shouts of menace as they advance closer. The creature begs to be left alone to be with his master. But instead of empathy or pity, the blood-thirsty crown set fire to the fragile wooden structure sealing the creature’s fate along with that of hs maker. And as the creature wails his plaintive cry, “Why?” He falls to an unknown fate as the conflagration engulfs the two of them.

What does the previous paragraph have to do with anything?

Plenty.

The recent arrest of film director Roman Polanski in Switzerland has led to a similar mob-like behaviour of a group of very vocal, but uninformed pseudo-indignant protesters who believe the director of such films as Rosemary’s Baby, The Ninth Gate, and the award winning The Panist should be tarred, feathered, and any other number of horrible things for the 1977 rape of a 13-year-old in which Polanski, then 44. pled guilty to one count of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. What remains mind-boggling is that none of these people have dared acquaint themselves with the facts of the case. This leaves this blogger with a serious case of whiplash. The ‘girl’ in this case is Samantha Geimer (nee Gailey) who is now married for a second time with three boys and living in Hawaii.

There are two schools of thought in all of this: one believes Polanski ‘got away with it’ when he fled final sentencing in 1978; the other are those who’ve either been with this case (as has the author if this post) and others who have had their minds changed after the airing of an HBO documentary on the case. Roman Polanski: Wanted & Desired was directed by Marina Zenovich. Zenovich became interested in the case after seeing Geimer on The Larry King show on CNN in 2003 when there was discussion over whether Polanski would be nominated for an Oscar for his work in The Pianist. Zenovich watched and saw Geimer and her lawyer, Lawrence Silver, state that the day Roman Polanski fled, was a sad day in the Americal Judicial System. She was perplexed by that statement, and set out to investigate the truth of the case.

Securing interviews with the main participants in the case, Zenovich began to uncover a gross litany of judicial misconduct committed by the judge assigned to the case, who also renegged on the plea deal accepted by Polanski. However, no one wants to acquaint themselves with the actual facts of the case. Instead, they want to say that Polanski got away with it, undoing a ‘child’ so totally, he is somehow to be put in the same league as a Dahmer, Gacey, or even a Manson. Defenders of the ‘official story’ argue that Geimer was somehow this Little Red Riding Hood led down the garden path by the wolf, Polanski. The reportage of Polanski’s arrest has made this story grow and facilitate those willing to accept the lies, repeat over and over again with an almost sycophantic monotone of another of Sommer’s films. The Zombie scene in The Mummy where Imhotep has an entire city of Cairo under his spell chanting, “Im-ho-tep” in an almost comic fashion. It’s the press I blame for not availing themselves of the facts of the case to air to their public. All they do is concentrate on the ‘rape’ and age of the ‘victim’ to stir the moral outrage. These agencies have an obligation to supply as much background material on their stories to give a fuller, rounder version of the story. Not stick to ‘talking points’ as a means to deliver their news. And again, there is the notion that Polanski ‘brought this on himself’.

And this isn’t the first time this has happened to Polanski.

What’s ironic here is that Polanski had enjoyed a love affair going with the media. A darling due his quick rise during the 1960s for his films Knife in the Water, Cul-de-sac, The Fearless Vampire Killers and Rosemary’s Baby, Polanski and his wife moved in a world where praise was heaped and fed in hefty sums. There was nothing Polanski didn’t do that drew the affection of the press who sought to take photographs of him and hsi beautiful wife, Sharon Tate, arriving at airports, at film festivals, and at premieres. He was ‘their’ new prize. That was until the day of August 9, 1969 when Polanski’s home at 10050 Cielo Drive became the place of a multiple murder including Sharon, pregnant and due to give birth that month with Polanski’s baby, Jay Sebring, internationally known hairstylist to the stars, Voytek Frykowski, a friend of Polanski’s, Abigail Folger, heiress to the Folger Coffee fortune, and Steven Parent, an 18 year-old college student visiting the caretaker. What began after that, was a system of ‘blaming the victims’ for their lifestyle. Something Polanski excoriated the press for at a news conference shortly after his return to the States from London where he ws prepping a film. From that time on, he called the press up on the carpet for their printing of erroneous and salacious stories involving Sharon and their guests in the months prior to the murders. After the murderers were caught in late October, members of the so-called Manson Family, Roman left the United States sooner than face more lurid details involving his beloved wife and their friends. He’d had it with the press.

For the next seven years, Polanski made four more films, Chinatown, MacBeth, The Tenant and What?. The first enjoying a return for Polanski to the kind of attention his earlier pre-Tate murder had enjoyed. When in 1977 word came over the wires that Polanski had been arrested for rape, the media throng descended. What became of that, is historic…

…end of part one