Prosecutor says judge in Polanski case reneged on promise

A Los Angeles judge told lawyers privately he would renege on a promise to arrest Roman Polanski for sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl in 1977, a former prosecutor testified, prompting the famous director to flee the United States.

A previously unsealed transcript obtained by the Associated Press Sunday night of retired Deputy District Attorney Roger Gunson’s testimony supports Polanski’s claim that he fled before his 1978 sentence because he felt he was not getting a fair deal.

Gunson said in closed-door testimony in 2010 that a judge violated the condition that Polanski be released after state prison officials ruled he should not serve time.

“The judge promised him twice… something he reneged on,” Gunson said. “So it didn’t surprise me that when he was told he was going to be sent to state prison… that he couldn’t or didn’t want to trust the judge.”

Polanski’s victim testified before a grand jury that during a photo shoot at Jack Nicholson’s home in March 1977, when the actor was away, Polanski gave her champagne and a sedative and then forced her to have sex. The girl said that she didn’t fight him because she was afraid of him, but then her mother called the police.

When the girl refused to testify in court, Polanski pleaded guilty to having unlawful sex with a minor in exchange for prosecutors dropping the drug, rape and sodomy charges. He has since asked for the case to be closed.

Defense attorney Harland Brown said on Friday, pending release of the transcript, that the development would renew its effort to have Polanski sentenced in absentia, ending his fugitive status.

Brown tried unsuccessfully, prosecutors argued, and the judges agreed that Polanski should appear in Los Angeles Superior Court to settle the matter.

The release of the transcript, ordered Wednesday by a California appeals court after Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon refused to release it despite longstanding objections from his predecessors, may support Polanski’s claim that he was being tricked by a corrupt judge.

The legal saga unfolded on both sides of the Atlantic as a recurring scene for four decades in a life filled with tragedy and triumph.

As a child, Polanski escaped the Krakow ghetto during the Holocaust. His wife, Sharon Tate, was one of seven people killed by followers of Charles Manson in 1969.

Polanski, 88, Oscar nominee in 1974 Chinatown and 1979 tesswon the statuette for Best Director Pianist in 2003. But he didn’t make it because he could be arrested in the US.

France, Switzerland and Poland all rejected offers to extradite him to the United States, and he continues to grace Europe, gaining fame and working with big players. However, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expelled him from its membership in 2018 after the #MeToo movement led to allegations of sexual misconduct.

Polanski claimed there was a miscarriage of justice in his case. In 2010, a Los Angeles courthouse received a sealed statement from Ganson regarding his remembrance of promises a judge made to the director in 1977.

Polanski’s lawyers, who were in the room during Ganson’s deposition but could not use him in court, long tried to seal the tape to help with the case.

Judge Lawrence Rittenband, now deceased, was influenced by the publicity of the case and changed his mind several times about Polanski’s conviction, Brown said.

After parole officials advised that Polanski should not spend any time behind bars, Rittenband sent the warden to a state prison for a 90-day diagnostic evaluation to help determine what sentence he should face.

The judge said that as long as Polanski received a favorable report from prison, he would no longer serve his sentence, Gunson said.

After a six-week evaluation in prison, Polanski was released with a recommendation that he only serve probation, Brown said.

But Rittenband thought the probation and prison bills were shallow and “white,” said Gunson, who agreed they downplayed or distorted Polanski’s crimes.

The judge privately told Gunson and Polanski’s lawyer that he should have been tougher because of the media criticism.

He said he would send Polanski to prison for a longer period but then release him for 120 days, which was possible under sentencing rules.

The novel says, “How can I trust a judge who has lied twice? Then he goes to Europe,” Brown said.
Gunson acknowledged during the deposition that the judge was free to sentence Polanski to 50 years because there was no agreed sentence. But Gunson objected to the judge-orchestrated “mock” trial and felt he had broken promises to Polanski.

The victim, Samantha Geimer, has long advocated that the case be dropped or that Polanski be sentenced in absentia. He even traveled from his home in Hawaii to Los Angeles five years ago to beg a judge to end “a 40-year sentence imposed on both victim and perpetrator”.

“I ask that you consider taking steps to finally end this matter as an act of mercy for me and my family,” Geimer said.

The Associated Press doesn’t usually name victims of sexual assault, but Gamer came out years ago in a memoir called Girl: Life in the Shadow of Roman Polanski. The cover features a photograph taken by Polanski.

Polanski agreed to pay Gamer $600,000 to settle the lawsuit in 1993.

Gamer, who requested a judicial investigation of misconduct, called for the record to be sealed and, in a letter last month, urged the district attorney’s office to take a fresh look at the case.

Prosecutors have repeatedly opposed the release of the material, but earlier this week failed to respect the player’s wishes or be transparent with the public.

“This case has been described by the courts as ‘one of the longest sagas in California criminal justice history,'” Gascón said in a statement. “For years, this office has struggled to release information that victims and the public have a right to know.

However, the prosecutor did not indicate that Polanski could avoid appearing in court. According to the press release, Polanski is on the run and must appear in court to be sentenced.