The strangeness in this case is that Polanski's wife was murdered by Charles Manson's psycho followers. He committed his crime some time afterward, but it's hard not to see some sort of mental fuckup connection. I'm not saying this case should be dropped. All I'm saying is how can we, as a society, gain from this? Simply tossing Polanski in a cell to rot is one solution, but so is taking all his money, and using it for some greater purpose. Have Polanski serve some time, but take away his money, livelyhood. It would be more comforting if Polanski was a repeat offender or if there were "rumors" of continued underage shenanigans in France or wherever. Then I'd have no problem tossing him in the slam. :dunno:
you're correct, there could definitely be a mental fuck up fromt he manson shit that happened and trust me, i'm pretty adamant about those fucks remaining locked away. but that was one of the basis for the psych evaluation. in a nutshell, the plea was a 90 day psych eval and then go free. now, im not really fond of that deal but there were so many reasons for it. one being the manson connection, but that was minimal. another being the clout of hollywood and backroom pressure.
another reason and this being the real "gotcha" against the courts, was the pressure on the victim and her family. the hollywood types love to point out how Polanski was being villanized by the mainstream papers but what they fail to reveal is that the little girl was being done the same. she was being labled a lolita, a temptress, a little devil...these were actual names being thrown on the 13 year old girl by other members of the press. her mother was being labled a pimp who threw her daughter upon polanski and even some of the little girls friends were no longer allowed to play with her because she was raped
the courts seeing these circumstances went with plea bargain....roman actually got off really easy, its just well, he couldnt seem to stay away from those young girls even when on trial....he was photographed with two young teens, the judge saw the pic and hit the roof....roman found out and ran away.
the trial was pretty much over....we were at the sentencing part...and had the judge reneged on the agreed bargain then the next appeallate court most assuredly would have seen the misconduct and over turn....these are california courts after all. i live in CA, my GF is in law, CA courts dont fuck around when shennanigans are displayed by the lower courts. but roman ran. the little girl stayed though she was being labled the teen age jezebel, she had no luxury of running. even after the crime she was being victimized, her assailant was now on the lam and the media was still depicting her a harlot.
during this time Roman has shown no remorse, in fact, he's been quoted as saying that it wasnt like it was murder, it was fucking a young girl, and everyone likes fucking a young girl...judges, juries, everyone. <<<<< i'm fucking not kidding here, he really said this.
some of his memoirs have shown explicit reading into that fact. heck, jolly even posted something about that in a few posts above. roman has shown no sorrow, no guilt and has painted himself as a victim after he stole the innoncence of a 13 year old girl.
during this time he has snubbed his nose at the justice system by hiding in luxurious exile. he's had his celebrity peers praise him, reward him, defend him.... and and as recently as a couple of years ago he was told, hey there's a new judge, she see's that the previous judge would have potentially broke his word, she see's indescretions on the courts part...come on back, lets iron it out...most likely you'll be set free for "time served". now this is a fucking amazing offer and what does Roman do? he snubs his nose yet again at one of the most compelling compassionate offers ever made by a court to a convicted rapist on the lam.
he mocks the system of law and judicial process from afar and lets his high society friends defend him locally. its a mockery of justice. its a case of the privileged being privileged. and its a case of trampling upon the very basis of a legal effort we as human beings try to live by and ensure some sort of equality amongst each other. he laughs at that from the ivory tower in europe and continues to paint himself and let others paint him as the victim.
if roman would at least put forth some sort of effort to show remorse, to show he's interested in justice being served instead of cowardly sniveling as to how he's the victim and letting his rich and powerful friends do the fighting for him.....well, maybe i'd be a bit more leanient.....but he hasnt so I wont.
hell in a civil suite he agreed to pay the vicitim 500 grand. two years later she had to sue cos he had not paid one penny of that. as far as i've heard he still hasnt. the man has absolutley NO respect for courts, law or justice....he's shown no hint of morality whatsoever. he has proven however, to be an arrogant, narcistic prick who raped the innocence out of child and thinks he's pretty much not having to own up to anything. in fact, the closest he's come to saying anything remorseful is thus (verbatim) "I've been tortured by this for a year and that's enough" this is an odd defintion of torture....makes you wonder what he thinks raping a 13 year old girl is.
what can society gain? i dont know, to be honest. but i do think its time for this mr polanski to stop gaining anything else from it, because he has gained more from it than anyone else walking this planet oddly enough. i dont even know what the verdict would be...i think if he showed honest regret over the whole thing he'd find a bit of mercy from the courts, more mercy than he deserves. but he has to be brought to justice...every convicted criminal should be. regardless of time passed because i for one, think justice, equality and truth never go out of style.
it sucks cos i'm a very liberal person, im rather ultra liberal and usually idenitify with you and mega and a few others on this website on most free ones debates. but it just seems as a liberal i stand with a small crowd on this particualr case. however, i stand in very good company...my GF who's an activist lawyer her in SF and i respect very much, Eugene Robinson, Katha Pollit two of the most left leaning and respected political columnist in our camp and even freakin Kevin Smith (Clerks director). I'm rather proud to be with this company and I like Kevin's movies much more than Polanskis...yeah i'm juvenile and a bit immature culturally but thats another story entirely.....
Society gains nothing from a crime, even when the criminal is convicted, we have still been victimized. But that doesnt mean the criminal should be allowed to gain either. Punish him, he admitted to the crime and has laughed at us from a distance ever since at us and our apparently naive belief that justice is worth fighting for.
sorry so long on the response TR, but honestly a couple of years ago i knew nothing about this case and it was my GF who enlightened me, all when the Pianist was up for an oscar. Since then my disgust for mr polanski cant even be measured. but again, i'm like this with every convicted rapist. perhaps its a flaw on my part, but i hope not. thanks for reading.
