Director Roman Polanski Not to be Extradited to USA

British Actress, Charlotte Lewis, Claims She was Molested by Polanski

British Actress, Charlotte Lewis, claims that she was sexually abused by director Roman Polanski in 1982, when she was only 16 years old. Lewis, now 42, just met with a prosecutor handling Polanski’s other sex abuse case and also held a press conference in LA. Lewis’ attorney - none other than Gloria Allred - says she hopes these allegations will affect Polanski’s sentencing. Polanski did plead guilty in 1977 to having sex with a 13-year-old girl but fled to France. He is now in Switzerland, fighting extradition.

Polanski loses bid to stay out of US Courts

Film director Roman Polanski has lost his bid to be sentenced in a US court without having to return.

He faces an arrest warrant over his conviction, 32 years ago, for unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl.

A judge ruled on Friday that Mr Polanski, 76, must be present in court if he wants to resolve the case.

Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza said he was acting to protect “the dignity of the court.” Mr Polanski’s lawyer said he would appeal the ruling.

Mr Polanski was arrested in Switzerland last September over his 1977 conviction for unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl.

He left the US in 1978 before he could be sentenced and has never returned.

BBC

Roman Polanski Requests to be Sentenced in Absentia

Fugitive film director Roman Polanski asked a Los Angeles judge on Wednesday to sentence him in his absence on a 1977 charge of having sex with a 13-year-old girl.

Judge Peter Espinoza set a January 22 date for a full hearing on the request, made by Polanski in a notarized document signed December 26 in Switzerland and submitted by the Oscar-winning director’s Los Angeles-based lawyer, Chad Hummel.

But prosecutors, who have long sought to bring Polanski back to Los Angeles, said they would oppose any bid to sentence him until he turns up physically in court.

ABC NEWS

Polanski Case May Be Coming To An End

Roman Polanski is under house arrest in Switzerland (poor guy), and filed to have his 32 year old case dismissed. The judges ruled yesterday that the case could not be dismissed, BUT he could file for have his sentence to be in absentia. Basically, he wouldn’t have to return to the US and the judge assigned the case would have to open an investigation into the allegations Polanski has mentioned. Though, Polanski pleaded guilty, he has made allegations that there was prosecutorial and judicial misconduct in the original handling of the case.

Polanski Placed on House Arrest

Film Director Roman Polanski was freed from a Swiss jail and placed on home arrest after posting bail. Polanski fled the U.S. after being charged with rape, Elizabeth Palmer reports.

French President Secures Polanski Release

Polish director Roman Polanski’s family is thanking French President Nicolas Sarkozy for being “very effective” in helping to win his release from a Swiss prison.

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it is thanks to the President that Roman has been freed, but he has been super,” Polanski’s sister-in-law, Mathilde Seigner, told Le Parisien newspaper. “The President has been very effective.”

The London Times speculated that Sarkozy’s wife, ex-model Carla Bruni, may have pressured her husband to intervene because she used to hob nob with Paris’ artistic community, which includes Polanski and wife Emmanuelle Seigner.

After initially balking at his release, Swiss authorities agreed to let Polanski move from a cell to his luxurious Alpine chalet once he puts up $4.5 million bail.

A bracelet will allow police to monitor Polanski , but the device does not include a global positioning system to track him should he escape.

“We can only check if the person is at home,” Jonas Peter Weber, a professor at the University of Bern, told the Times. “If the alarm goes off and no police is in the vicinity, the person will be able to flee.”

Sarkozy was first criticized for supporting Polanski in October. He expressed outrage after the director was arrested at a Zurich airport on a U.S. warrant from 1977 for having sex with a 13-year-old girl.

Read More at NY Daily

Polanski to Remain in Jail a Few More Days

Roman Polanski will remain in a jail outside Zurich for at least three more days until he meets the security conditions of his bail, a Swiss official said Friday.

Polanski wouldn’t be placed under house arrest in Switzerland before Monday, because he has yet to fulfill all the requirements to ensure that he stays in his chalet in the Swiss luxury resort of Gstaad, Justice Ministry spokesman Folco Galli said.

Galli did not elaborate, but the 76-year-old director must post $4.5 million bail, surrender his identity papers and be fitted with a monitoring bracelet.

Polanski cannot leave the chalet because the ministry is still deciding whether to extradite him to the United States for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl. Authorities in Los Angeles want him sentenced after 31 years as a fugitive.

Doubts over Polanski’s whereabouts were answered Friday when the filmmaker’s lawyer Lorenz Erni entered a prison in Winterthur, a city 16 miles (26 kilometers) northeast of Zurich.

Erni declined to speak to reporters after his 80-minute visit in the prison, where Polanski is being treated as an extradition detainee with more privileges than prisoners who have committed crimes in Switzerland.

A former Winterthur inmate said he was held in a cell next to Polanski, and that the Oscar-winning director of “Rosemary’s Baby,” “Chinatown” and “The Pianist” was given better treatment than others.

Google

Roman Polanski seeks medical attention

Reuters reports that director Roman Polanski, facing extradition to the US for a thirty-one year old rape conviction, has been moved from his jail cell to seek medical treatment for an undisclosed condition. Polanski, whose lawyer has recently said was suffering from depression, is still in Swiss custody as he waits for US authorities to make an official extradition request.

EW

Court reveals Filmmaker Polanski settlement

Roman Polanski agreed to pay his victim of sexual assault $500,000, 15 years after he fled the US, according to court documents released to the media.

According to the reports, Polanski has never paid the settlement since he fled. The total now comes out to $604,416.22, including interest.

Politicians and Hollywood Heavyweights have been chiming in on the decision to extradite Polanski back to the US, with most of them agreeing that it should happen. After all, he did plead guilty to sleeping with a 13-year old girl before his departure.

Read the full BBC Story HERE

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