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Jewish World Review
Sept. 29, 2009
/ 11 Tishrei 5770
L.A. Is Not Chinatown
By
Debra J. Saunders
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Our Betters in Europe, of course, are outraged that Switzerland
arrested and may allow the extradition of film director Roman Polanski, 76,
a fugitive from California justice after he pleaded guilty to unlawful sex
with a 13-year-old in 1977.
The French culture minister, Frederic Mitterrand, sniffed, "In
the same way that there is a generous America that we like, there is also a
scary America that has just shown its face." A petition signed by European
filmmakers huffed at the impropriety of arresting Polanski on his way to
accept a film industry lifetime achievement award.
Everyone sympathizes with Polanski because he has prevailed,
despite the Holocaust, which claimed his mother, and the Manson murder
spree, which claimed his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, in 1969. But just
because Polanski has made some great movies, that doesn't mean he should get
away with rape.
Explaining her outrage at the arrest, Washington Post columnist
Anne Applebaum wrote, "The girl, now 45, has said more than once that she
forgives him, that she can live with the memory, that she does not want him
to be put back in court or in jail, and that a new trial will hurt her
husband and children."
And: "He did commit a crime, but he has paid for the crime in
many, many ways: In notoriety, in lawyers' fees, in professional stigma. He
could not return to Los Angeles to receive his recent Oscar."
This is the crime the French believe is ugly to prosecute:
Polanski first plied a ninth-grader with champagne and Quaalude, then raped
and sodomized her. Even after she forgave Polanski, victim Samantha Geimer
told CNN that she told Polanski, "No," but the 43-year-old director did not
stop. You can't call that a victimless crime that sophisticated adults can
overlook.
The 2008 HBO documentary "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired,"
made a case that Judge Laurence J. Rittenband, now deceased, may have
crossed the line when he signaled that he would not adhere to a plea
agreement where Polanski pleaded guilty to unlawful sex in exchange for a
sentence of 42 days already served.
In February, the Los Angeles Times reported, Superior Court
Judge Peter Espinoza found "substantial" evidence of judicial misconduct
but rightly, he would not throw out the case because Polanski was a
fugitive. Ironically, this arrest could lead to Polanski beating the rap.
"You know what? The man is dead," responded Sandi Gibbons, a Los
Angeles County district attorney spokeswoman over the phone. "None of this
erases the fact that Mr. Polanski pleaded guilty to a felony crime and he
chose to flee the United States prior to being sentenced."
It's ironic that Polanski's career took off with 1974's
"Chinatown," a film about moneyed interests corrupting Los Angeles criminal
justice system. Polanski's villain was an older man with moneybags and taste
for a young thing.
Now his fans advocate special treatment the evasion of
punishment for the new-money maven who could afford to jet off to France to
avoid punishment while the full weight of the law falls on those without
his money.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
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Debra J. Saunders Archives
© 2009, Creators Syndicate
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