Roman Polanski and his defenders

[pemberly]

I haven't followed the case too closely, but I did watched bits and pieces of the documentary.

To me, it doesn't matter what the girl had done before or after the incident. The fact that she said no and he kept forcing her was wrong. Proving rape is always very hard since it's one person's words against another.

I heard how the judge mishandled the case. However, seeing that Polanski took off and refuse to come back to serve his time, I consider that a lame excuse. It's not like he was punished for something he didn't do.

I think his arrest has everything to do with politics. There has to be some sort of benefit to Switzerland. Otherwise, why wait all this time to catch him? But it doesn't really matter to me. Just as long as he's caught.

like you said, it's one person's word against the other. how do we know she said no?

and polanski had a plea deal worked out, but figured he couldn't trust the judge after the judge had deceived him before. polanski had served some time, which the judge had promised would be enough. but then the judge then changed his mind and wanted to put him back in jail. there really was no reason for him to stay.

and yes, of course it has to do with politics. switzerland is under a lot of pressure right now from the US regarding their banking procedures. maybe they needed a high profile case to prove that they are friends of the US.

[tweety365]

like you said, it's one person's word against the other. how do we know she said no?

That is true. I suppose only the 2 of them would know for sure. But I would still rather side with the then underage child.

Either way, he's still a sick pervert to have sex with a minor when he was old enough to be her father.

[Trien Chieu]

have any of you watched the roman polanski documentary? from what i've watched and the articles i've read, i'd like to point out some things.

1) the 13 year old girl was no saint. roman polanski wasn't her first, and she wasn't entirely unwilling to bed an older famous director to get ahead in her modeling career or break into acting.

2) he was convicted of having sex with a minor, not rape.

3) later evidence has shown that the judge in this case seriously mishandled it for his own personal gain.

i think what many people have a problem with isn't that he should or should not serve time for his crime, but that switzerland and the united states decided now, somewhat randomly, to arrest and extradite him when he's been in and out of switzerland for so many years.

It doesn't matter whether the girl was a virgin or not. What really matter is Polanski drugged her and gave her alcohol then had sex with her. According to the law, that is rape. I like Arnold Schwarzenegger's comment on the matter regarding Polanski. He will not pardon him. Everyone is equal under law. As for Polanski, I hope him rot in jail for life.

[pemberly]

It doesn't matter whether the girl was a virgin or not. What really matter is Polanski drugged her and gave her alcohol then had sex with her. According to the law, that is rape. I like Arnold Schwarzenegger's comment on the matter regarding Polanski. He will not pardon him. Everyone is equal under law. As for Polanski, I hope him rot in jail for life.

how do you know he drugged her? it's unclear whether it was he or she that provided the quaaludes.

and like i said before, he was not convicted of rape. he was convicted of sex with a minor.

[Suet Seung]

how do you know he drugged her? it's unclear whether it was he or she that provided the quaaludes.

and like i said before, he was not convicted of rape. he was convicted of sex with a minor.

Which is another form of rape, statutory rape.

[JamesG]

His defenders are just what you'd expect from the land of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies .

[Ken Cheng]

His defenders are just what you'd expect from the land of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies .

Most of the names on that list are of Europeans, not Americans.

I think "Hollywood" got wrongly fingered as apologists for pedophilia this time: although a few Hollywood personalities have spoken in support of Polanski, most of the names on the list above belong to European filmmakers.

[pemberly]

Which is another form of rape, statutory rape.

i'm not sure if that's something different, or a different term for the same offense.

[Ken Cheng]

i'm not sure if that's something different, or a different term for the same offense.

Statutory rape is the legal term for sex with a minor. Per the laws of many countries (including the United States), a minor cannot *legally* consent to sex. Therefore, any person who knowingly has sexual intercourse with a legal minor would be guilty of statutory rape.

As the person in question was thirteen years old at the time of the act, there is no question that Polanski did not commit statutory rape. He absolutely did. The facts are not in dispute.

[jiang bao]

Toss the mofo in prison and let prison justice take care of him. But in reality, he's rich, so his lawyer would likely score him something in min.security.

[pemberly]

apparently, there was another person around during this incident... anjelica huston. O_o she has said that the minor looked 25.