After spending the last thirty years as a fugitive from justice, Roman Polanski filed a formal request to have child molestation charges against him dropped.
In 1977, less than ten years after his pregnant wife Sharon Tate was brutally murdered by the Manson Family, a Los Angeles court convicted the Oscar-winning director of having unlawful intercourse with a 13 year old girl. Polanski fled the US to France, and has never returned.
Although the girl in question later requested the charges against Polanski be dropped, the authorities disagreed, and claimed they would sentence him upon his return to the US.
Lawyers for Polanski, whose directing credits include Chinatown and Rosemary’s Baby, cited misconduct by prosecutors and a judge in papers filed in Los Angeles Superior Court late last night.
The attorneys said a recent TV documentary about the case, Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired, ‘revealed a pattern of misconduct and improper communications between the Superior Court and the District Attorney’s Office in violation of the rule of law and without the knowledge’ of the director and his defence.
During his years in exile Polish-born Polanski also hasn’t visited Britain for fear of extradition.
If you haven’t yet, you should really check out the HBO documentary “Wanted and Desired.” Regardless of how you feel about the case, it’s absolutely a compelling film.
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December 3rd, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I’m not sure how I feel about it. I absolutely abhor the thought of him with a 13 year old, but I also know that her family put her with him and that he was doing something that was consensual. Then again, how could a 13 year old really have a say in something like that?
Ugh, just stay gone Roman. It’s better this way.