Roman Polanski fled L.A. after judge told lawyers he WOULD be jailed

2022-07-18

Roman Polanski fled L.A. for Europe in after judge privately reneged on his promise not to jail him for raping 13-year-old girl: Prosecutors revisit the case 45 years later as movie director fights to finally bring it to a close

Polanski fled L.A. on the eve of his sentencing in 1978 in fear that he would be jailed for up to 50 years
Judge Laurence Rittenband had initially promised to sentence him to probation but then reneged at the last minute
He said he would jail him for 120 days, but Polanski didn’t trust him after two broken promises
Both Polanski and prosecutors want him to be sentenced in absentia now
It would end his fugitive status and allow him to return to the US after 45 years
Polanski’s victim, Samantha Geimer, also wants him to be sentenced or for the case to be dropped
She previously told how he raped her at Jack Nicholson’s home in March 1977 after spiking her champagne

Roman Polanski fled Los Angeles for France in 1978 on the eve of his sentencing for raping a 13-year-old girl after the judge in the case privately reneged on a promise not to jail him, unsealed documents from the 45-year-old case have revealed.

Polanski, 88, was found to have had sex with 13-year-old Samantha Geimer at Jack Nicholson’s house in 1977. She told police that he gave her a sedative then forced her into sex, and her mother later reported it to police.

In 1978, he was due to be sentenced to probation by Judge Laurence Rittenband but at the last minute, discovered the judge planned to instead jail him for up to 120 days.

Rittenband, who died in 1993, said he had been influenced by the media and needed to be tougher on the then 45-year-old movie director.

Frightened that Rittenband would in fact sentence him to longer than 120 days, Polanski fled to France. He has remained in Europe ever since, fighting off effort s to have him sentenced in absentia or extradited to the US as a fugitive.

For decades, the case has been ringfenced by prosecutors in the L.A. District Attorney’s office. It is now being revisited by George Gascón, who is best known for his woke, soft-on-crime prosecutorial style.

Polanski is leading the effort to revisit the case and finally bring it to a close. He wants to prove his long-held claim that he was the victim of prosecutorial misconduct and finally bring an end to the case which would end his status as a fugitive.

Roman Polanski, now 88, (shown in Poland, left, in 2018) says he was lied to by Judge Laurence J. Rittenband (right) and that he is why he went on the run. Rittenband, who died in 1993, told the actor’s legal team he would jail him for up to 120 days after initially promising not to jail him at all

Deputy DA Roger Gunson, the prosecutor who tried Polanski, wrote: ‘The judge had promised him on two occasions… something that he reneged on.

‘So it wasn´t surprising to me that, when he was told he was going to be sent off to state prison… that he could not or would not trust the judge.’

Samantha Geimer, 13, told police that Polanski spiked her champagne and forced her into having sex with him at Jack Nicholson’s house in 1977

Polanski’s attorneys are fighting for him to be sentenced in absentia in order to end his current status as a fugitive.

Previously, prosecutors have tried to force him back to the US for sentencing.

Release of the transcript was ordered by a California appeals court Wednesday.

Polanski´s 13-year-old victim testified before a grand jury that during a photo shoot at Jack Nicholson´s house in March 1977 when the actor wasn´t home, Polanski gave her champagne and part of a sedative, then forced her to have sex.

She didn´t fight him because she was afraid of him but her mother later called police.

When she refused to testify in court, Polanski pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor in exchange for prosecutors dropping drug, rape and sodomy charges.

Polanski has argued that there was judicial misconduct in his case.

In 2010, a Los Angeles court took sealed testimony from Gunson about his recollections of promises made to the director by the judge in 1977.

Polanski’s lawyers, who were in the room during Gunson’s testimony but couldn’t use it in court, have long sought to unseal that transcript to help their case.

Unsure how to handle the case, Rittenband sent Polanski to state prison in 1978 for 90 days.

He received a recommendation from the prison that the film director should not serve any additional time.

Gunson, the prosecutor, wrote that Rittenband thought the recommendation was ‘whitewash’ and told Polanski’s team he would sentence him to 120 days in prison, but would get him out sooner.

‘Roman says, `How can I trust the judge that´s lied twice?´ So he takes off to Europe.’

Geimer (pictured in 2017) has for years begged the L.A. District Attorney’s Office to revisit the case in order to bring it to a close. Polanski has remained a fugitive since 1978

Gunson acknowledged during his testimony that the judge had discretion to sentence Polanski up to 50 years because there had been no agreed-upon sentence.

But Gunson objected to the ‘sham’ proceedings the judge was orchestrating and felt he had broken promises to Polanski.

Roman Polanski is shown in 1977 after being arrested for rape. He pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor in exchange for prosecutors dropping drug, rape and sodomy charges

The victim, Samantha Geimer, has long advocated that the case be dismissed or that Polanski be sentenced in absentia. She went so far as as to travel from her home in Hawaii to Los Angeles five years ago to urge a judge to end ‘a 40-year sentence which has been imposed on the victim of a crime as well as the perpetrator.’

‘I implore you to consider taking action to finally bring this matter to a close as an act of mercy to myself and my family,’ Geimer said.

Geimer went public years ago and wrote a memoir titled ‘The Girl: A Life in the Shadow of Roman Polanski.’

The cover features a photo shot by Polanski.

Polanski agreed to pay Geimer over $600,000 to settle a lawsuit in 1993.

Geimer, who has pressed for investigation of judicial misconduct, asked that the transcript be unsealed and in a letter last month and urged the DA´s office to take a fresh look at the case.

Prosecutors have consistently objected to releasing the material but relented earlier this week to honor Geimer´s wishes and be transparent with the public.

Judge Rittenband is shown discussing the case against Polanski with journalists in 1978

‘This case has been described by the courts as `one of the longest-running sagas in California criminal justice history,´’ Gascón said in a statement.

‘For years, this office has fought the release of information that the victim and public have a right to know.’

Geimer described in her book how Polanski plied her with champagne and took photos of her in a jacuzzi at Nicholson’s home.

‘He puts his camera down and says he’s getting in. He’s getting in. I’m fine with taking off my top…But this? No.

‘I want out. Now. How f*****g stupid could I be? It’s a hard thought to hold on to. The water is hot, and the steam is rising into the night.

‘I knew this wasn’t right,’ she wrote.

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