No cover-up in Polanski’s sex case, say US prosecutors
By IANSWednesday, March 31, 2010
LONDON - Prosecutors in Los Angeles have angrily denied claims by Hollywood filmmaker Roman Polanski’s lawyers that they tried to conceal evidence in his 32-year-old sex case, and renewed demands for him to be returned to the US for sentencing.
Two prosecutors who handle appellate matters for the district attorney’s office argued that allowing the 76-year-old to avoid extradition from Switzerland hurt the integrity of the judicial system more than revelations of alleged misconduct by a now-dead judge, reports belfasttelegraph.co.uk.
They also claim there has been a misinterpretation of an extradition treaty with Switzerland and that Polanski should be returned for a court hearing in Los Angeles.
Polanski, arrested on a US warrant, spent more than 60 days in a Swiss jail before being transferred to house arrest on Dec 4 last year.
The late Superior Court Judge Laurence Rittenband sentenced the director in 1978 to a diagnostic study at a California prison where he served 42 days.
Although the judge told lawyers that would be Polanski’s full sentence, he later indicated he was going to renege on the bargain and give him a harsher sentence at a scheduled hearing.
Polanski then fled to France and has been a fugitive ever since.
His lawyers say the judge’s promise is binding and Polanski has served his full sentence. They have asked for a full hearing with witnesses about allegations of judicial and prosecutorial misconduct in the case.
Polanski’s victim was 13 when she met Polanski for a modelling shoot in Los Angeles in 1977. Polanski was accused of plying her with champagne and part of a Quaalude pill, then raping her at star Jack Nicholson’s house.
He was initially indicted on six felony counts, including rape by use of drugs and child molesting. He later pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse.
