Spotlight on Roman Polanski

CRIMINAL

As with every aspect in the life of Polanski, the case for his release is riddled with complexities and contradictions as the case against him. It is ironic that even the judicial proceedings against him in the now infamous case have been revealed to be seriously flawed and unfair, with a trial judge who apparently was clearly anti-Semitic.

Last month, Polanski was detained by the Swiss government as he arrived to receive an award at the Zurich Film Festival. He is awaiting extradition to Los Angeles, for an arrest warrant that is over 30 years old. The arrest was a shock to Polanski and outraged many in the film industry.

In Paris, the French culture minister, Fredric Mitterand, said that he was astonished by the arrest. He was quoted in the New York Times as saying, " In the same way there is generous America that we like, there is also a scary America that has shown its face."

Directors Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, and Woody Allen are among dozens in the film industry to sign a petition calling for the immediate release of Polanski. Academy Award winning film producer Harvey Weinstein, also a signatory to the petition, wrote in the United Kingdom Independent, calling the original plea deal in Polanski's case a "miscarriage of justice."

In fact, the victim of the case, Samantha Geimer, has long since publicly identified herself and expressed forgiveness for Polanski, who fled the United States on the eve of his sentencing in 1978 only after becoming convinced that the judge in the case, Laurence Rittenband, meant to go back on a plea agreement and send him to prison.

Polanski's life has been tumultuous since childhood. When he was eight, his Jewish parents were sent to the concentration camps, His mother died in Auschwitz. Polanski escaped the Krakow ghetto just before it was liquidated by the Nazis and roamed the Polish countryside, seeking shelter with Catholic families. Once, he ran into a squad of German soldiers, who sadistically used him as a target practice, howling with laughter as he dodged their bullets.

After the war, Polanski directed films in Europe. He then emigrated to the United States where his first American film, Rosemary's Baby, became a success. He married actress Sharon Tate in 1968. But then came trauma that affected Polanski as deeply as the Holocaust : the murder of Tate, who was pregnant with their first child, by the Charles Manson family.

After directing Jack Nicholson in Chinatown in 1974, Polanski met the victim of his alleged crime at Nicholson's house. Polanski, then 43, had been assigned to photograph teenage girls in Los Angeles by the magazine Vogue.

The victim and Polanski both agreed that sex took place, and that Polanski gave the teenage girl champagne and a Quaalude to relax her.

After being arrested for rape, sodomy, and unlawful intercourse with a minor, Polanski plead guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse. He spent 42 days in custody undergoing evaluation at a state prison in Chino before fleeing the country.

At the time of the sentencing, Judge Rittenband was being egged on by an ugly media, which stressed Polanski's foreign origins, and described him as a " dwarf" as well as with terms of thinly veiled anti-Semitism. He also belonged to a Los Angeles country club that barred Jews from membership.

In a recent documentary, " Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired," the assistant District Attorney in the case called the legal proceedings against Polanski " a sham." In the documentary, the director of the film, Marina Zenovich, calls the victim to discuss the case on camera. The victim of the alleged crime then forgives Polanski and supports his attempts to have the charges dismissed.

As Zenovich states, " It is not about whether Polanski is likeable or not. It's about whether he was treated fairly under California state law. And clearly he was not."

Polanski did flee California for France. However, his actions were caused by the behavior of a judge, who at best, was inherently suspect in being fair to a Jewish celebrity. More importantly, in these times of financial crisis, what does pursuing a man now in his 70s, who fled the country over 30 years ago, accomplish? Most importantly, what is accomplished when the victim does not desire Polanski's imprisonment?

The only conclusion to draw is that Polanski is the victim of a perverse form of celebrity justice that is nothing more than irrational vengeance, which serves no purpose.

Jeffrey A. Lowe is the former chair of the Los Angeles County Bar Association criminal law section. He practices law in Beverly Hills.