Roman Polanski Arrested

[Tyyr]

He's already confessed and been found guilty. He plead out to a lesser crime but then skipped town.

I've also got to check but I'm fairly certain for most crimes the state can prosecute so long as they've got sufficient evidence, whether or not the victim wants to. It usually helps a lot if the victim cooperates but if the state has sufficient evidence they don't need the victim to let them prosecute.

[Sionnach Glic]

Okay, was just wondering.

[Angharrad]

Question... why do some crimes have a statute of limitations?

Statutes of limitations are designed to prevent fraudulent and stale claims from arising after all evidence has been lost or after the facts have become obscure through the passage of time or the defective memory, death, or disappearance of witnesses.

Criminal Actions


Criminal statutes of limitations apply to different crimes on the basis of their general classification as either felonies or misdemeanors. Generally, the time limit starts to run on the date the offense was committed, not from the time the crime was discovered or the accused was identified. The running of the statute may be suspended for any period the accused is absent from the state or, in certain states, while any other indictment for the same crime is pending. This suspension occurs so that the state will be able to obtain a new indictment in the event the first one is declared invalid.

[Graham Kennedy]

Thanks. I've always wondered about that.

Re Polanski, I just don't see the point in what's happening. Seems to me that the only message this is sending is "we never forget... even when it would be better to."

[Tyyr]

I don't get how a guy can rape a 13 year old girl, skirt justice, and people not give a shit.

It's not like it was a statutory case where an 18 year old guy is getting ripped by the law because his 16 year old girlfriend's parents don't like him. It's not a case where the girl enticed him or even consented (as much as a 13 year old can legally consent) and he gave in. It's a case where he systematically got her drunk, drugged her, and then raped her repeatedly as she's begging him to stop and let her go home. This is a brutal crime we're talking about and a man who doesn't seem to profess any remorse about it. Even as late as I wanna say 2003 he's saying he can't wrap his mind about it being a crime because he didn't think it hurt anyone.

[Nickswitz]

Wait, Tyyr, didn't you say before why is he going to be prosecuted?

I'm confused now...

[Tyyr]

No, he was prosecuted already. He plead out to a lesser crime. They sent him for a psych evaluation and then he was supposed to return for final sentencing. Well between the eval and sentencing he skipped town and headed for Europe. It's not a question of guilt, he's admitted to it and still does.

Some questions have come up about prosecution of older crimes. There's no prosecution needed here. Well I take that back. They're going to want a piece of his ass for failure to appear in court.

[Captain Seafort]

No, he was prosecuted already. He plead out to a lesser crime. They sent him for a psych evaluation and then he was supposed to return for final sentencing. Well between the eval and sentencing he skipped town and headed for Europe. It's not a question of guilt, he's admitted to it and still does.

Given that he was convicted and then released, the court got what it deserved when he did a runner. Stupid doesn't begin to cover it.

[Tyyr]

I won't argue with that. He should have been under control at all times.

[Tyyr]

Whoopi Goldberg, scary person.

Hollywood has rallied behind Roman Polanski after his arrest in Switzerland over the weekend, with the actor Whoopi Goldberg suggesting that whatever he was guilty of it wasn't "rape-rape".

As a guest on The View chatshow on US television, she said: "I know it wasn't rape-rape. It was something else but I don't believe it was rape-rape. He went to jail and and when they let him out he was like, 'You know what, this guy's going to give me a hundred years in jail. I'm not staying.' So that's why he left."

Later in the programme she added: "We're a different kind of society, we see things differently ... would I want my 14-year-old having sex with somebody? Not necessarily, no."

Response from many female and some male bloggers was swift and furious.

On the Jezebel celebrity website , Lindsay wrote: "We learned about Whoopi's strange and fascinating moral universe, which includes the concept of "rape-rape."

On The Frisky Amelia McDonnell-Parry wrote: "Whoopi Goldberg, who I never expected to be a rape apologist, coins a term I've never heard before - 'rape-rape' ."

He made some good movies so... well what's a 13 year old girl?

Polanski's friend, Swiss filmmaker Otto Weisser, was among the first to publicly run to his defense.

"This is for me a shock. I am ashamed to be Swiss, that the Swiss is doing such a thing to brilliant fantastic genius, that millions and millions of people love his work," Weisser said upon learning the director had been detained by Swiss authorities. "He's a brilliant guy, and he made a little mistake 32 years ago. What a shame for Switzerland."

"We stand by and await his release and his next masterwork," said Zurich Film Festival Jury President Debra Winger on Monday on behalf of Polanski.

[Mark]

So, we are going to seek justice at the taxpayer's expense for a victim WHO DOESN'T WANT justice...we're going to pay to extradite him, for his imprisonment, and so forth? What he did was wrong as hell, yes. And if we were chasing a guy who had JUST committed the crime, then I'd be willing to go get him myself. But the government hasn't chosen to act until NOW. And we don't have a victimized 13 year old now, we have a grown adult for a victim who is making a conscious choice when she says leave it alone.

I'm not saying what he did doesn't warrant punishment, but I balk at my tax dollars getting spent seeking justice for somebody that doesn't want it, against somebody that they've had 3 DECADES to deal with. It's NOT like he was laying low and nobody could find him after all.

[Tyyr]

So, we are going to seek justice at the taxpayer's expense for a victim WHO DOESN'T WANT justice...we're going to pay to extradite him, for his imprisonment, and so forth? What he did was wrong as hell, yes. And if we were chasing a guy who had JUST committed the crime, then I'd be willing to go get him myself. But the government hasn't chosen to act until NOW. And we don't have a victimized 13 year old now, we have a grown adult for a victim who is making a conscious choice when she says leave it alone.

I'm not saying what he did doesn't warrant punishment, but I balk at my tax dollars getting spent seeking justice for somebody that doesn't want it, against somebody that they've had 3 DECADES to deal with. It's NOT like he was laying low and nobody could find him after all.

No, but he's been in non-extradition countries. France refused to extradite him. That's why he went there. It's not that the government screwed around for three decades and just now decided to get him. He just now screwed up and went to an extradition country and said country played ball.

Again, whether or not the victim has come to grips with it and moved on is utterly and totally irrelevant. The man is an admitted child rapist. He goes to jail. The fact that he managed to duck the law for 30 years is utterly irrelevant. He's in custody again so he goes to jail.

[Tsukiyumi]

I've gotta say, I'm with Tyyr on this. Just because he was able to hide out for 30 years, and just because the victim has put the incident behind her (not surprising, given the time frame), and just because he made one of my favorite movies, doesn't excuse what he did.

Better late than never.

[Mikey]

I'm 100% with Tyyr and Tsu. How does the fact that the victim miraculously came to terms with what happend exonerate him? If somebody murdered me, and my wife and kids over the next 30 years were able to get on with their lives, would my murderer suddenly become "less guilty?"

[Sionnach Glic]

Exactly. The fact that the victim has no interest in seeing him prosecuted does not change what actualy happened.