Monroe Chat

What do you think? Should the authorities still have pursued Polanski ? Is there a statute of limitations here?

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In March 1977, the 44-year-old Polanski fed a 13-year-old girl champagne and a sedative, forced himself on her and anally raped her, according to the girl's grand jury testimony. He was convicted of a lesser charge — statutory rape — because he agreed to plead guilty.

Polanski spent 42 days in a mental institution and had been led to expect that it would be considered "time served," and that he would be freed on probation. But when he came to believe that the presiding judge would sentence him to years in prison instead, Polanski jumped bail and fled to France.

He has been living comfortably in Europe for the past three decades. But on Saturday, as he was flying to Switzerland to attend the Zurich Film Festival, he was picked up by Swiss authorities acting on longstanding requests from the U.S. to arrest him.

Actress Debra Winger, the president of the Zurich film festival's jury, blasted Switzerland for its "philistine collusion" with the U.S. in arresting Polanski, who was honored by the festival Sunday night even though he was in jail.

While prosecutors in the U.S. continue to press their case to bring Polanski back to California, some filmmakers abroad are rallying to his cause.

Weinstein's friend Thierry Fremaux, the director of the Cannes Film Festival, reached out to French authorities after Polanski's arrest, and the country's foreign minister quickly dispatched a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling for filmmaker's freedom.

The State Department would not confirm the receipt of the letter, or of one from the foreign minister of Poland, where Polanski grew up, but both countries are known to be angling for the release of the director, who is a dual French-Polish citizen.

As Polanski fights to have his arrest overturned in Switzerland, even Hollywood's bitter broadsheets have been laying off the fugitive.

The senior editor of the gossip magazine In Touch said in a television interview he couldn't believe the justice system is still going after Polanski 30 years after his initial arrest, and after his victim, Samantha Geimer, has publicly forgiven Polanski.

"It's mind-boggling why they're still pursuing this," said Tom O'Neill. "It just seems that the prosecutors in Los Angeles won't let go these many years later."

I can't beleive all the left wing Hollywood types saying he has suffered enough! They need to go back and read what he did to that 13 year old girl and what the punishment for such is and should be/would be, for normal people (not applicable in this case). It says loud and clear the elitists attitude of the far left and the out of touch/double standards applicable in their perverted minds. They are everything that is wrong with the world and the catalyst for its ultimate downfall.

It's amazing that anyone can say he shouldn't be brought back and tried/sentenced. For those who support his release, they must be out of their minds!!!! You know good and well that if an un-heard-of American had done the same to a 13 year-old French child, the French would be doing everything in their power to bring the suspect/perp to justice (and rightfully so).
It's as if they are saying "He shouldn't go to prison for raping a 13 year-old. He's a great film maker" I suppose if he were a mediocre to poor film maker, then it'd be ok for him to be sent back to the USA for trial.
If his supporters are so fond of him, perhaps they should lock their child in a room with him, along with some booze and drugs. See if that would set well with them. I don't think they'd like that idea.
Hopefully he'll be locked up for the rest of his life.

I happen to feel the same way ..... I can't help but offer a shocked response to those who might stand in support of him and his actions. I can only assume that when one has a public profile, there will be 'sheeple' who will follow.. actually found it ironic that Woody Allen had stepped forward ... Jeesch!

I may well break the odd moral code (not intentionally ) and occasionally stretch the boundary on an ethical one .... again not intentionally , but have made it a practice to ensure that I'm not breaking any laws... because I know that there is a penalty and frankly, I don't care to be incarcerated .....

At the end of the day we are looking at adult who drugged a child and had intimate relations with her. I simply cannot agree to consensual relations as that in and of itself is preposterous! 42 days in a facility does not constitute a punishment ... when he left the US he did so to escape the penalty he KNEW was under consideration..... and now the piper will be paid!!!

At the end of the day we are looking at adult who drugged a child and had intimate relations with her. I simply cannot agree to consensual relations as that in and of itself is preposterous! 42 days in a facility does not constitute a punishment ... when he left the US he did so to escape the penalty he KNEW was under consideration..... and now the piper will be paid!!! [/quote]


You are being kind in your discription due to the fact that his actions were named after a certain city that Lot narrowly escaped and Romans's act with this 13 year old drugged girl was named!

I admit the realm of sympathy regarding his mother in the holocaust and his pregnant wife brutally murdered put a twist and make it more intriguing, coupled with his fame, he is not above the law and it is for all including the affluent.