Judge rules Polanski must face music in California
LOS ANGELES - A Los Angeles judge on Friday denied the impassioned plea of Roman Polanski’s victim to end a four-decade-old sexual assault case against the fugitive director.Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon ruled that Polanski must return to California if he expects to resolve charges of sexually abusing a teen. The Oscar winner fled the country on the eve of sentencing in 1978.
Gordon’s ruling follows a fervent request by Samantha Geimer to end a “40-year sentence” she says was imposed on both perpetrator and victim. It was issued on Polanski’s 84th birthday and blamed the director for the case still being alive.
“Her statement is dramatic evidence of the long-lasting and traumatic effect that these crimes, and the defendant’s refusal to obey court orders and appear for sentencing, are having on her life,” Gordon wrote.
Harland Braun, Polanski’s attorney, said the ruling came after the judge asked for proposals on how to resolve the case. Braun’s proposals include several that previously were rejected by the court.
Polanski pleaded guilty to having unlawful sex with Geimer when she was 13. She has said he drugged, raped and sodomized her.
The Associated Press does not typically name victims of sex abuse, but Geimer went public years ago.
After he became a fugitive, his attorneys have failed to persuade judges to sentence him in absentia and credit him for the 42 days he was incarcerated for psychological testing before he fled.
Geimer has long supported Polanski’s efforts but made her plea in court for the first time in June. After her statement, the director’s lawyers reiterated their request for the case to be dismissed, or Polanski to be sentenced without appearing in court.
Geimer told the judge that she was deeply disappointed Polanski had not been able to resolve the case with prosecutors and implored Gordon to “bring this matter to a close as an act of mercy to myself and my family.”
Gordon’s ruling Friday noted that a court “may not dismiss the case merely because it would be in the victim’s best interest.”
Geimer has said she was more traumatized by the legal system and the fallout from the case than she had been by Polanski. In downplaying Polanski’s actions, Geimer’s position was at odds with many sexual assault victims and an outcry about lenient sentences in sex abuse cases.
Gordon had praised Geimer for her courage and elegant words but also expressed skepticism that Polanski could resolve the case without appearing in a Los Angeles courtroom.
AP
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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